They were racing four-wide around the final turn, and no one was taking his foot off the gas.
A chess tournament does not usually draw comparisons to NASCAR, but the wild finish at the just-completed Tata Steel Masters Tournament in the Dutch seaside town of Wijk aan Zee made for one of the most memorable outings in the event’s storied 85-year history, featuring a satisfyingly high number of decisive games and an unexpected champion.
On that final lap, four players — Dutch GM Anish Giri, Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Indian GM D. Gukesh, and Chinese GM Wei Yi — were tied at 7½-4½, with a round to go. Remarkably, all four won — no grandmaster draws here — resulting in a four-way blitz playoff. In the end, Wei defeated Gukesh to claim the trophy, the best result of the 24-year-old Chinese grandmaster’s career.
Wei’s compatriot, world champion GM Ding Liren, showed clear signs of rust at Tata after a long period of inactivity, fading in the tournament’s second half to finish ninth at 6-7.
Giri, the local favorite, had an impressive tournament, losing only one game and punching his ticket to the playoff with a nice win over fellow Dutchman GM Max Warmerdam in the final round. Needing a win, Giri as White feints with a quiet English Opening only to signal his aggressive intentions with 6. Nc3 c5 7. g4!?, a now-standard thrust that offers Black a free pawn if he doesn’t mind opening a file directly to his castled king.
Black prudently declines, but that only allows White to quickly build up an alarming kingside push after 10. Qc2 Nxc3 11. dxc3! (unexpected but shrewd — the fianchettoed bishop gets locked in for a long while, but White avoids 11. Qxc3?! d4 12. Qc2 e5, with good central counterplay for Black) g5 12. h5 Ne5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. 0-0-0 Bg4 15. f4.
Offense and defense are finely balanced, as Giri throws a piece sacrifice into the mix in a bid to flush Black’s king out of his fortress: 19. Rh4! (a nice multipurpose move; the hasty 19. Qh2?! Bg4 20. Rdg1 Bh5 bolsters the defense) dxc4 20. Bxg6!? fxg6 21. Qxg6 — the engines say the position is equal, but, as always, the defender can’t afford a single misstep while the attacker has more latitude to vary.
Warmerdam, who started his first Tata event promisingly but faded against the world-class field in the second half, can’t quite solve the defensive problems Giri constantly poses. The attack gains overwhelming momentum on 23. Qd6+ Kg8?! (Qe7 is tougher, as White doesn’t want the draw that would come after 24. Qxe7+ Kxe7 25. f6+ Kf7 26. Rh7 Rg8 27. fxg7 Rxg7 28. Rh8 Rxg5 29. Rdd8 Rg1+ 30. Kd2 Rg2+ 31. Ke3 Rxb2) 24. f6 Qg6? (and here Black had to find 24…Bf5! [Bh8? 25. Qh2 wins] 25. Qxc5 Re4! 26. Rxe4 Bxe4 27. Qd4 Re8 28. fxg7 Qf4+, holding on) 25. Qf4 Qf5 26. Qg3!, and Black’s exposed king and his undeveloped queenside prove too much.
Even with his dark-squared bishop still entombed, Giri has enough firepower to break through: 28…Qe6 (the win is more prosaic on 28…Qg6 29. Qh4 Qh5 30. Rxc4 Qxh4 31. Rxh4 Kxg7 32. c4+ Kg6 33. Rf1) 29. Qh2 Kxg7 30. Rxf7+! (see diagram) Qxf7 (Kxf7 31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Rf1+ and mate next) 31. g6! — the only winning move (31. Qh6+? Kg8 32. g6 Qg7 33. Qh5 Rad8 and Black is at least equal), as after the killer deflection 31…Qe6 (Qxg6 32. Rg1; 31…Qf6 32. Qh7+ Kf8 33. g7+ Qxg7 34. Rf1+ and wins) 32. Rd7+!, Black resigns facing 32…Qxd7 (Kf6 33. Rd6 pins and wins) 33. Qh7+ Kf6 34. Qxd7 Rad8 35. Qf7+ Kg5 36. Kb1 Re1+ 37. Bc1+ Kh5 38. g7+ and wins.
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It was an equally compelling battle in the Tata Steel Challengers, where 17-year-old GM Leon Luke Mendonca — part of the bulging pipeline of young Indian stars surging to the top of the game — put on an incredible closing kick with 6½ points in his final seven games to nip front-runner GM Marc’Andria Maurizzi of Italy by a half-point. Mendonca thus snares the coveted invitation to sit at the grown-ups’ table next year in the 2025 Tata Masters event.
Mendonca dropped a nice rope-a-dope move on veteran Turkish GM Mustafa Yilmaz in their Round 11 match-up as part of his closing kick. The venerable Giuoco Piano — the “Quiet Game” — opening has proven anything but in recent years, as top players such as former world champ Magnus Carlsen have found provocative new ideas for both sides. Here it is Yilmaz as Black who launches a scary-looking kingside pawn storm, a foray that unfortunately leaves himself open to an unexpected counterpunch from White.
Thus: 15. Bh2 g4 16. hxg4 Bxg4 17. Qe1 f5? (consistent but not good; better was 17…Qf6 18. Ng1 Rg8 19. f3 Be7 20. f4 Qg7 21. Qe2, with plenty of play for both sides) 18. b5! Na5 (it turns out this knight was the keystone to Black’s defense, and its removal leads to disaster) 19. Nxe5! dxe5 20. Bxe5+, and suddenly White’s pieces are strafing the exposed Black king.
After 20…Nf6 21. f3! (hitting the bishop but also clearing a path for the White queen to the kingside) Nxc4 22. Nxc4 Bh5 23. Qxh4, Mendonca already has three pawns for the piece and his attack is nowhere near spent.
The White bishop on e5 dominates the position, and Black never really solves the problem of his pinned knight on f6. It’s over on 29. Nd5 (loading up even more on f6) Rf8 30. b6! (the b-pawn that drove away the Black knight 11 moves ago now embarrasses the Black bishop as well) Bb8 31. Nxf6, and Yilmaz resigned. It’s hopeless after 31…Rxf6 (Bxe5 32. dxe5 and White’s knight forks the queen and rook) 32. Bxf6+ Kxf6 Qxb8, and White cleans up.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Giri-Warmerdam, Tata Steel Masters, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, January 2024
1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. b3 e6 4. Bb2 Bd6 5. c4 O-O 6. Nc3 c5 7. g4 Nc6 8. g5 Ne4 9. h4 Re8 10. Qc2 Nxc3 11. dxc3 g6 12. h5 Ne5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. O-O-O Bg7 15. f4 e5 16. hxg6 hxg6 17. Bd3 exf4 18. exf4 Qc7 19. Rh4 dxc4 20. Bxg6 fxg6 21. Qxg6 Kf8 22. f5 Qf7 23. Qd6+ Kg8 24. f6 Qg6 25. Qf4 Qf5 26. Qg3 Be6 27. fxg7 Bf7 28. Rf4 Qe6 29. Qh2 Kxg7 30. Rxf7+ Qxf7 31. g6 Qe6 32. Rd7+ Black resigns.
Mendonca-Yilmaz, Tata Steel Challengers, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, January 2024
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Bg5 d6 6. c3 h6 7. Bh4 a6 8. O-O Ba7 9. Nbd2 g5 10. Bg3 Nh7 11. Kh1 O-O 12. a4 Kh8 13. b4 h5 14. h3 h4 15. Bh2 g4 16. hxg4 Bxg4 17. Qe1 f5 18. b5 Na5 19. Nxe5 dxe5 20. Bxe5+ Nf6 21. f3 Nxc4 22. Nxc4 Bh5 23. Qxh4 Kg7 24. d4 Bg6 25. Qg5 Rh8+ 26. Kg1 Rh5 27. Qf4 Qd7 28. Ne3 c5 29. Nd5 Rf8 30. b6 Bb8 31. Nxf6 Black resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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