Diagram 1
Here White found a clever combination to gain a clear advantage using the fact that the rook is loose on h8. Can you see his idea (see in the game)?
The 83rd Tata Steel tournament concludes today in Wijk aan Zee in what, judging from the first half, is likely to be a photo finish. Certainly in the early phases nobody dominated, with Nils Grandelius and, as they hit the rest day last Monday, Alireza Firouzja getting their noses ahead, but never by more than half a point.
Magnus Carlsen had a good start when in the first round he beat Firouzja, who missed a difficult defence in time trouble. But Carlsen then became becalmed with a series of draws that ended when Andrey Esipenko, a Russian who is only 18, defeated him last Sunday. It was Carlsen’s first loss at Wijk since 2017 and only his sixth in 177 games and plonked him back into the pack on just 50%.
Firouzja had recovered excellently from the first round defeat, moving back to an even score in round three when he beat the Spaniard David Anton Guijarro and then accelerating with three succesive wins in rounds six to eight. Carlsen did regain a plus score in round nine at the expense of Grandelius whiile Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana joined Firouzja in the lead.
Andrey Esipenko v Magnus Carlsen
Wijk aan Zee 2021 (round 8)
Sicilian Scheveningen
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be2 e6 7 Be3 Be7 Although this started life as a Najdorf (5...a6) it is now classified as a Scheveningen in which the move order would be 5...e6 6 Be2 a6. Normally White plays 8 0-0 now but Esipenko tried something much more aggressive.
8 g4 b5 9 g5 Nfd7 10 a3 Offering the g pawn to prevent the disruptive ...b4. It’s a gift which is very hard to refuse.
20..Bxg5 11 Qd2 Bxe3 It’s possible that retreating the bishop is better though in the couple of previous games I found neither 11...Be7 nor 11...Bf6 turned out well. The latter was dealt with extremely harshly in this game: 11...Bf6 12 0-0-0 Bb7 13 Rhg1 Nc5 14 e5! Bxe5 15 Ndxb5 Nb3+ 16 cxb3 axb5 17 Bxb5+ Bc6 18 Bd4 Qc8 19 Bxe5 dxe5 20 Kb1 Rg8 21 Ne4 1-0 Ivanchuk v Negi Greece 2010.
12 Qxe3 Qh4?! The queen soon retreats losing a tempo so this must be inaccurate.
13 Rg1 g6 The obvious move but it does weaken the dark squares as we’ll see in a moment.
14 0-0-0 Qe7 Defending the d pawn and possibly concerned about Rg5 in some lines.
15 f4 Bb7 16 Kb1 Nc6?! Falling into a trap but it was difficult anyway. For instance if 16...Nc5 17 b4 Na4 18 Nxa4 bxa4 19 e5 d5 20 f5 gxf5 21 c4 the black king has nowhere to hide while if 16...0-0 17 h4 Nc6 18 Nf3 Rfd8 19 h5 with a dangerous attack.
Diagram 1
17 Ncxb5! axb5 18 Nxc6 Bxc6 19 Qc3 The point. The double attack now regains the piece.
19...0-0 20 Qxc6 With Black’s pawns dropping White is clearly better though it remains messy.
20...d5?! The best way to fight was 20...Nc5 21 Qxd6 and now rather than exchange queens perhaps 21...Qa7 22 Bxb5 Rab8 23 c4 Rfd8 24 Qxd8+ Rxd8 25 Rxd8+ Kg7 with some mess.
21 exd5 Rfc8 22 d6 Qd8 23 Qxb5 Rcb8 If 23...Rxa3 24 bxa3 Rb8 25 Rg3 the d pawn is too strong.
24 Qc4 Rxa3 25 Qc7 Qe8
Diagram 2
26 Rg5! This excellent move prepares to snuff out Black’s counterplay.
26...Ra4 If 26...e5 27 Bg4 f5 28 Bxf5 Qf7 29 Qxb8+ Nxb8 30 bxa3 White should win fairly easily.
27 Ra5! Rab4 28 b3 R4b7 If 28...Rc8 29 Bb5! Rxb5 30 Rxb5 Rxc7 31 dxc7 Kg7 32 Rb8 Nxb8 33 Rd8 and the pawn queens.
29 Qc3 Qd8 30 Bf3 Rb4 31 Qc7 Qf6 Playing with the queens exchanged would be hopeless so Carlsen tried his luck, threatening 32...Rxb3+.
32 Ra8! 32 Rxa8 33 Bxa8 Qf5
Diagram 3
34 Kb2 If course not 34 Qxd7?? Rxb3+ when in fact after 35 Kc1 Qxf4+ 36 Rd2 Ra3 Black is winning.
34...Rb5 If 34...Nf6 35 d7 Nxd7 36 Rxd7 Rxf4 37 Qc3 White wins easily.
35 Qxd7 Rc5 36 Rc1 Qxf4 37 Qe8+ Kg7 38 d7 Black now has a few checks but they soon run out, for instance if 38...Rxc2+ 39 Rxc2 Qd4+ 40 Ka2 Qa7+ 41 Kb1 Qg1+ 42 Rc1 Qe3 43 Qb8 so Carlsen resigned.
