Ladies Day at Tata tournament as Ju, Roebers score big upsets at the chessboard

It was a banner round for the ladies last week at the first big chess tournament of the new year.

At the Tata Steel Masters tournament now underway at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, women’s world champ GM Ju Wenjun of China took down French Iranian GM Alireza Firouzja with a Round 5 upset, reportedly the first win by a female players against a top-10 grandmaster at classical time controls in seven years. Firouzja is not only a candidate in this year’s world championship cycle, but he also happened to be leading the elite tournament at the time.

Despite being the lowest-rated player in the 14-player field, the tenacious Ju stands at a very respectable minus-one through eight rounds, with Monday a rest day for the competitors.

One rung down the ladder at the Tata Steel Challengers tournament, Dutch IM Eline Roebers was fashioning an even more improbable result as she upset top-seeded American GM Hans Moke Niemann despite a nearly 300-point ratings gap. Remarkably, Roebers was 0-4 at the time, but went on to TKO another top seed, Turkish GM Mustafa Yilmaz, in the very next round.

Firouzja rebounded with a win over a rusty world champion GM Ding Liren of China in Sunday’s Round 8, and both tournament flights are wide open with six rounds to go. In the Masters tournament, Firouzja, Indian GM D. Gukesh and local Dutch favorite GM Anish Giri share at 5-3, with six players within a point of the lead.

In the Challengers tournament, it’s rising Italian star GM Marc’Andria Maurizzi setting the pace at 5½-2½, with GMs Erwin L’Ami of France, Saleh Salem of the United Arab Emirates and Leon Luke Mendonca of India lurking a half-point back. Play continues through Jan. 28.

Ju’s breakthrough win over Firouzja was a doubled-edged affair in which she proved stouter than her opponent at crucial junctures in the game. White switches to the French Exchange line against Firouzja’s 1. e4 d6 and a subtle positional debate breaks out over whether Black’s good piece activity and White’s weak e-pawn compensate for his damaged and weak queenside pawns.

Firouzja may have underestimated the danger — and his opponent — in the first critical moment: 20. Qa6 f4 21. Qf1!? (Ju plays a subtle game to keep from just losing the e-pawn) fxe3 22. Qd3 e2?! (tempting, as the queening square is just one move away, but the pawn can’t be held and Black’s pawn weaknesses will come back to haunt him; better was 22…Qb8!? 23. Nb3 a5!, with good play) 23. Nf3 (g4! immediately was also strong) Qf7 24. Ng5! (an alert shot that leaves Black fighting to save a bad ending) Qg6 25. Qxg6 Bxg6 26. Rxe2 h6 27. Nf3, and now 27…Rf8 28. Ne5 Be8 29. Re3 would have left Black doomed to passive and unpleasant defense for the rest of the game.

Black’s c-pawn falls but converting the win is by no means easy. Critical is the sequence 41. b3 axb3 42. Rxb3 Bg2? (Ra8!, impeding the pawn and making it hard for White to redeploy her knight, was much better) 43. Re3 Be4 44. Na2! Rb8 45. Nc3, and White has preserved her critical a-pawn and put her knight to good use.

Even now, in a highly instructive endgame, Black has drawing resources up until the final finesse: 51. Nc3 Rf8+ 52. Kg1 Rf3? (Kc6! makes White’s task much harder; e.g. 53. Nxe4? Re8! 54. Kf2 dxe4 55. a4 Kd5 is equal), when a neat little White king two-step forces Black into a painful zugzwang.

Thus: 53. Nxe4 dxe4 54. Kg2! Rxa3 55. Rxe4 Rd3 56. Kf2! c6 57. Kg2! (the only winning idea) — now any Black king move cedes valuable ground while 57…Ra3, to keep the White king bottled up, runs into 58. Re5! Rd3 59. Rg5! Rxd4 60. Rxg6, and the Black h-pawn falls as a matter of course.

Ju’s liberated king plays nicely with her rook to clinch the upset: 61. Kd3 Ke6 62. Rf8 Ra7 (Ke7 63. Rc8 Kd7 64. Ra8 Ke6 65. Ke4 Re7 66. Rd8, with 67. Rd6+ on tap) 63. Ke4 Ra1 64. Rd8!, and Black resigned as the coming check on d6 ends the discussion after 64…Re1+ 65. Kf4 Ke7 (Rd1 66. Kg5 Kf7 67. Rd7+ Ke8 68. Rd6 Kf7 69. Rxg6 Rxd4 70. Kxh5 Rd5+ 71. Rg5 and wins) 66. Rd6 Re6 67. Rxe6+ Kxe6 68. Ke4 Kd7 69. d5 cxd5+ 70. Kxd5, with an elementary pawn endgame win.

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Roebers showed superb fighting spirit in her own win over Niemann, not only given her disastrous start but also because her heavily favored opponent gets a strong position from the Black side of a Caro-Kann. White makes it worse for herself with the passive 16. Nf3 Bg6 17. h3?! (c4 was the active play, when Black can play it safe with 17…Nb4 or go for more with 17…dxc4!? 18. Bxa5 Qa7 19. Qxc4 c5, with positional compensation for the pawn) c5 18. dxc5 Nxc5 19. Nxc5 Bxc5 20. Bf4 Rac8, and Black has all the play and a clear path for his rooks into the game.

By 25. Qe2 Nd5 26. Bd2, one would expect a player of Niemann’s pedigree to clean up here as a matter of course, with virtually every one of his pieces superior to White’s. But Roebers does not panic or fold, and it is the grandmaster who seems to drift. Black’s massive pressure on the c-file leads to nothing, and with a string of patient, sensible moves, it is White after 38. Qd2 Rcc8 39. c5 who is applying the pressure on the d-file while her “weak” c-pawn has somehow become a strength.

White even out-calculates her opponent to win a piece: 39…f6? (Be4 40. Re3 Bd5 41. Qxa5 costs a pawn but limits the damage for Black) 40. Bc4!? (not bad, but powerful already was 40. exf6! gxf6 [Qxf6 41. Re3] 41. h4 puts powerful pressure on Back’s shaky kingside) fxe5 41. Nxe5 Kh7? (and here 41…Nd5 42. Rxd8+ Rxd8 43. Qxa5 was the lesser evil for Black) 42. Re3 Nd5? (see diagram; Black misses a pretty zwischenzug; 42…b6 was the best defense in a tough position) 43. Bxd5 Rxd6 44. cxd6 Qxd6 (pinning the piece, but White can escape) 45. g4!, when 45…Bb1 Qe1! and 45…Rc2 46. Qd4 both slip the pin and win.

Black tried 45…Rc5 46. gxf5 Rxd5, but 47. Qe2! defends the knight and leaves White up a piece for two pawns. With White’s king perfectly safe and his Black counterpart exposed, Niemann’s desperate attempts at counterplay predictably fail badly. After 54. Rc3 Rd8 55. Qb3+ Kh7 56. Nf7, the knight puts a fork in it and Black will lose a rook; Niemann resigned.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Ju-Firouzja, Tata Steel Masters, Round 5, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, January 2024

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. c4 Nf6 6. c5 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 10. Be3 Nc6 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. Bb5 Ne4 13. Qa4 Nxd2 14. Nxd2 Bg5 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Rae1 Bxe3 17. Rxe3 Rxe3 18. fxe3 Qe8 19. Re1 f5 20. Qa6 f4 21. Qf1 fxe3 22. Qd3 e2 23. Nf3 Qf7 24. Ng5 Qg6 25. Qxg6 Bxg6 26. Rxe2 h6 27. Nf3 Be4 28. Ne5 a5 29. Nxc6 a4 30. Re3 Ra6 31. Nb4 Rg6 32. g3 h5 33. Ra3 Kf8 34. Kf2 Rf6+ 35. Ke2 Rg6 36. h4 Ke8 37. Re3 Kd7 38. a3 Re6 39. Kd2 Rf6 40. Ke2 Rf8 41. b3 axb3 42. Rxb3 Bg2 43. Re3 Be4 44. Na2 Rb8 45. Nc3 Rb2+ 46. Ke1 Rb3 47. Kf2 Bh1 48. Nd1 Rb8 49. Re5 g6 50. Re1 Be4 51. Nc3 Rf8+ 52. Kg1 Rf3 53. Nxe4 dxe4 54. Kg2 Rxa3 55. Rxe4 Rd3 56. Kf2 c6 57. Kg2 Rd1 58. Kf3 Rf1+ 59. Ke3 Rf7 60. Rf4 Rg7 61. Kd3 Ke6 62. Rf8 Ra7 63. Ke4 Ra1 64. Rd8 Black resigns.

Roebers-Niemann, Tata Steel Challengers, Round 5, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, January 2024

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Be3 Qb6 5. Qc1 e6 6. Nf3 Ne7 7. a4 a5 8. Nbd2 h6 9. Be2 Bh7 10. Nb3 Na6 11. O-O Nb4 12. Bd1 Nf5 13. Bd2 Be7 14. Ne1 O-O 15. c3 Na6 16. Nf3 Bg6 17. h3 c5 18. dxc5 Nxc5 19. Nxc5 Bxc5 20. Bf4 Rac8 21. Be2 d4 22. Bb5 Rfd8 23. Qe1 dxc3 24. bxc3 Ne7 25. Qe2 Nd5 26. Bd2 Rc7 27. Rfc1 Rdc8 28. Ne1 Be7 29. Qf3 Bg5 30. Bxg5 hxg5 31. Ra3 Qc5 32. c4 Ne7 33. Qc3 Bf5 34. Nf3 Nd5 35. Qb2 Nf4 36. Rd1 Qe7 37. Rd6 Rd8 38. Qd2 Rcc8 39. c5 f6 40. Bc4 fxe5 41. Nxe5 Kh7 42. Re3 Nd5 43. Bxd5 Rxd6 44. cxd6 Qxd6 45. g4 Rc5 46. gxf5 Rxd5 47. Qe2 exf5 48. Qh5+ Qh6 49. Qf7 Rd1+ 50. Kh2 f4 51. Qf5+ Kg8 52. Qc8+ Kh7 53. Qc2+ Kg8 54. Rc3 Rd8 55. Qb3+ Kh7 56. Nf7 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.