2018 Wijk aan Zee 12 - 28 January

[Mick Norris]

Gawain is currently +2.4 on the live ratings for his first 11 rounds; he's white against Shak today and black v Matlakov tomorrow, so unless he loses both, he'll be at least playing at his rating for the whole event

Hopefully the experience he gets from 13 rounds at this level will be invaluable; it is longer than most tournaments

[NickFaulks]

he's white against Shak today

He'll need to handle that better than Svidler did!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

he's white against Shak today

He'll need to handle that better than Svidler did!

Drawn by repetition on move 12, so really only about 9 meaningful moves.

[JustinHorton]

Strange time to choose the Petroff.

[JustinHorton]

....and Gawain seems to agree.

[MJMcCready]

Black can't complain if he chooses the Petrov and then the game is drawn.

[JustinHorton]

Well, it depends on the opponent. The Petroff isn't necessarily an implicit draw offer against a player of equivalent strength. But againt a player much lower-graded towards the end of a really tough tournament?

[Mick Norris]

Strange time to choose the Petroff.

It's always a good time to chose the Petroff
Strange variation though

[Matt Mackenzie]

Carlsen has ground down Matlakov in classic fashion.

Kramnik has certainly responded to his setbacks here well, about to clinch an excellent win over Caruana.

(still impressive even if the latter is dismally out of form)

[LawrenceCooper]

Final round pairings:

Masters:

1 GM So, Wesley (7) 2792— — GM Hou, Yifan (2½) 2680
2 GM Mamedyarov (8) 2804— — GM Anand, V. (7½) 2767
3 GM Matlakov, M. (4½) 2718— — GM Jones, G. C. (4½) 2640
4 GM Karjakin, S. (7) 2753— — GM Carlsen, M. (8½) 2834
5 GM Caruana, F. (4½) 2811— — GM Svidler, P. (5½) 2768
6 GM Adhiban, B. (3½) 2655— — GM Kramnik, V. (7½) 2787
7 GM Wei, Yi (5) 2743— — GM Giri, Anish (8½) 2752

Challengers:

1 GM Amin, Bassem (7) 2693— — GM Bok, Benjamin (5½) 2607
2 GM Harika, D. (4½) 2497— — GM Krasenkow, M. (5) 2671
3 GM L'Ami, Erwin (5½) 2634— — GM Tari, Aryan (5½) 2599
4 GM Vidit, S. G. (8½) 2718— — GM Van Foreest (7) 2629
5 IM Van Foreest (4½) 2481— — WGM Girya, Olga (3½) 2489
6 GM Gordievsky (6½) 2622— — GM Korobov, A. (8) 2652
7 GM Bluebaum, M. (6½) 2640— — GM Xiong, J. (6½) 2634

[NickFaulks]

Strange time to choose the Petroff.

Presumably he feared Gawain's deadly old-fashioned Giuoco Piano.

[Jonathan Rogers]

One possible explanation for Mamed's surprising choice is that the one player in this event against whom Gawain did not open with 1 e4 was Hou, who plays the Petroff. Perhaps he even noted Gawain's loss v Jobaba last September, when Gawain also refrained from 1 e4 against a Petroff player. From that might have come the idea that Gawain has nothing much against the Petroff. He would of course have been aware of the risk of, well, exactly what happened; but he might have wondered whether Gawain would come to his last White in a more ebullient mood, hoping to make more of an impression in the tournament.

Every now and again one comes across this strategy - Black as though asks White "how obviously are you going to play from the draw from the outset?". I remember Patrick Wolff annotating a game between Anand and Ivanchuk, their last in an unofficial eight game match in 1992. Ivanchuk needed to win with Black to tie the match, and tried the French. Brilliant choice, said Wolff - Anand might of course play 3 exd5 but who would want to be seen to chicken out in such a way in what is, in any event, an unofficial match?

But I don't know how successful this strategy tends to be. A lot of the time White players probably prove quite unembarrassed to halve out. And when they actually elect to play, as Anand did, they are probably in the right mood. Anand won that eighth game.

[Barry Sandercock]

Games start at 11.00 A.M. this morning. Carlsen has black against Karjakin and needs to win.

[JustinHorton]

Well he doesn't, he only needs to win if Giri wins.

[Tim Harding]

Mamedyarov still has 1.47 on the clock after 23 moves against Vishy; walking around; deep preparation evidently.