Anish Giri kept his half point lead at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee as the Netherlands No 1, who has several times narrowly missed first place at the “chess Wimbledon”, maintained his challenge in the event no Dutchman has won since 1985.
The 26-year-old overcame a major hurdle when he drew calmly with the black pieces against Magnus Carlsen, ending the last chance of a late surge from the world champion, who is back in sixth place.
A surprise new challenge emerged from Giri’s compatriot Jorden van Foreest, 21, who is also unbeaten after 11 of the 13 rounds and who quickly went a piece ahead against India’s Pentala Harikrishna. It looked like being the first game to finish but was actually the last, an 80-move marathon before Van Foreest converted a two pawn advantage.
The game of the day was Alireza Firouzja v Fabiano Caruana, where both the 17-year-old fast-rising star and the world No 2 began the round half a point behind Giri. Caruana thought long about a knight sacrifice but could not make it work, then at the finish the American produced a move which he described as “a miracle”. Two pawns down with queens and rooks roving on an open board, Caruana sacrificed a third pawn which could be captured with check – the only way to draw.
Scores after 11 of the 13 rounds are Giri 7.5, Firouzja, Caruana and Van Foreest 7, Andrey Esipenko 6.5, Carlsen (Norway) 6. Giri v Firouzja is the big game in Saturday’s 12th round, starting at 1pm, followed by the decisive final round 13 at noon on Sunday. They can be watched free and live with grandmaster commentary on the official platform or on major chess websites. It should be a tense occasion and possibly a historic one, depending on the result.
Carlsen’s defeat by 18-year-old Esipenko has been the major shock. The world champion began with a fine win against Firouzja, then drew his next six. In round 10, he also halved with Caruana in a hard-fought game after defeating the early Swedish leader Nils Grandelius. The loss to Esipenko was thus an outlier, even more from the poor quality of Black’s play than the result. The champion fell for a simple early tactic where Esipenko’s queen forked a c6 knight and a h8 rook, and after that it was just a matter of keeping calm and avoiding Carlsen’s shallow traps. It was Carlsen’s first defeat in classical chess to an opponent born in the 21st century, and his first to a sub-2700 player since 2015. It pushed Esipenko’s official Fide rating above 2700, the yardstick figure for the global elite. The young Russian’s chance of actually winning Wijk only faded when he lost to Norway’s Aryan Tari in round 11.
However, Esipenko’s statistics pall beside those of Firouzja, a year younger, who has lost only to Carlsen and who has continued to play in the complex, imaginative and innovative style which brought him second prize behind Carlsen at Stavanger in October.
With 2758 Fide points in the live ratings, Firouzja has jumped to No 14 in the world. His new surge has surpassed the former world champions Vlad Kramnik and Vishy Anand and the 2016 challenger Sergey Karjakin, and puts him only six rating points away from the super-elite of the top 10. That represents a speed of improvement achieved in the past at age 15-17 by Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Carlsen, and probably by nobody else.
Carlsen v Firouzja for the world crown looks a serious possibility in 2023 or 2025, although the eight-player candidates tournament which decides the challenger is a hazard which almost trapped Carlsen in 2012.
3708: 1 Bxf3 Qxf3 2 Rexe3! dxe3 3 Qb2+! wins a rook.
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