Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

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  • Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

    Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

    I was familiar with this tournament back in the 60s as the Hoogovens at Beverwijk. Since then it has been known as the Hoogovens at Wijk aan Zee, the Corus at Wijk aan Zee and now, the Tata Steel chess at Wijk aan Zee. My Dutch doctor once told me that too many doubled vowels can make one wijk.

    Be that as it may, the details of the 2014 tournament have just been released. The participants in the Masters Section, with their December FIDE ratings are:

    Aronian, Levon ARM 2803
    Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2786
    Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2782
    Gelfand, Boris ISR 2777
    Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2756
    Dominguez, Leinier CUB 2754
    Naiditsch, Arkadij GER 2737
    Giri, Anish NED 2734
    So, Wesley PHL 2719
    Harikrishna, Pentala IND 2708
    Rapport, Richard HUN 2687
    Van Wely, Loek NED 2678

    I count 5 players 25 or younger - Caruana, Karjakin, Giri, So and Rapport.

    There will be Live Stream Commentary on

    http://www.tatasteelchess.com/

    With a host of famous commentators such as Yasser Seirawan, Lawrence Trent, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Erwin l’Ami and Ian Rogers. The site also lists one appearance, commentating, by Tex de Wit, a name unknown to me.
    ++++++++

    Schedule

    The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has two main tournaments. They are played according to the Round Robin system, whereby each competitor plays in turn against every other during the tournament. The Grandmaster group A has 12 players and the Grandmaster group B has 14 players. Both groups start on January 11th 2014. All rounds begin at 13.30 hours (7:30 AM Toronto/Montreal time), except for the last round on January 26th, which begins at 12.00 hours.

    Time Control

    The time control is: 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.

    Recent History and Zurich - Magnus Carlsen won the 2013 Tata Steel Chess Tournament with a score of 10 out of 13, equaling Garry Kasparov's 1999 record win in Wijk aan Zee.

    2013 – Carlsen 10, Aronian 8.5, Anand, Karjakin 8
    2012 – Aronian 9, Carlsen, Radjabov, Caruana 8
    2011 – Nakamura 9, Anand 8.5, Carlsen, Aronian 8

    Carlsen will not be at Tata this year because he didn’t want to play in two super-tournaments in a row. Zurich is on from January 29 to February 4, 2014
    Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana and Gelfand will go on to play at Zurich. They will be joined by Anand and Carlsen.
    Vladimir Kramnik said at the London Classic that he wouldn’t be in any tournaments before the Candidates (in Khanty-Mansiysk, March 12).

    For the 2014 edition of Zurich, a blitz tournament will determine the color distribution. A round-robin tournament of five rounds with a classical time control is then followed by a rapid tournament with colors reversed on the last day of play. A won game in the classical tournament counts 2 points, a draw 1 point. Wins in the rapid tournament count 1 point and draws half a point.
    All games will be commented by Yannick Pelletier and Werner Hug and broadcast live via Internet.

    http://www.zurich-cc.com

  • #2
    Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

    CBN news features Wesley So's particiapation at Tata Steel.

    http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/01...28-world-chess

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

      No surprise that Webster A with Wesley So 2743 6-0 won the Pan-Ams, Dec 27-30 in Texas.

      University of Toronto -A 2187 13 pts tied for 12-14th, 1st place, Division 2 4-2.

      Paul Gellis 2301 2.5
      Mike Ivanov 2265 4
      WGM Melissa Greeff 2233 3
      Alex Kitaygorodsky 1949 3.5

      U of T B 1835 9, 36th out of 42 teams.

      GM Anton Kovalyov 2704 3.5, University of Texas A 2505 at Brownsville.

      http://www.depts.ttu.edu/ttuchess/panam_results.php

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

        Off topic re TATA, on topic re Pan-Ams: I see Illinois "A" finished 3rd in 2013. Last year they finished 5th. In both years the Illinois "A" team performed considerably better than their average rating (2150-2225) would have predicted. In 2013 alone they defeated three teams with average ratings above 2400. Cinderella story?

        I guess there is always hope!

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

          Cinderella story, indeed. http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/...ess-final-four

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

            Re: PanAm's - Arthur Calugar (UTD-B) scored 4.5/6.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

              Originally posted by Jack Maguire View Post
              CBN news features Wesley So's particiapation at Tata Steel.

              http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/01...28-world-chess
              There's one factual error in that CBN news item. Wesley So will NOT be the 2nd youngest participant, nor Anish Giri the youngest. That distinction, of course, goes to Richard Rapport, who's all of 17 and currently the #2 ranked Junior in the world at 2691. Given 4 of the current top 5 'Juniors' (including the current #1, Giri) all lose said status at year's end (all turning 20 in 2014), Richard will likely head up the 'FIDE Top Juniors' list the next two calendar years (i.e. 2015 and 2016).

              Speaking of same, which can be found at http://en.chessbase.com/post/january...mura-now-third , Wei Yi evidently has an opportunity to become the 2nd youngest GM ever to crack FIDE's Top 100 list. The youngest, if the ChessBase commentary is to be believed, was Judit Polgar, who did so at the age of 12! Although the GMs seemingly keep getting younger and younger, I'm not sure that's a record that's likely to be broken anytime soon.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

                Tata Steel/Wijk aan Zee 2014

                Play starts in this tournament tomorrow. The pairings for the first round have just been announced. They are:

                Leinier Dominguez-Anish Giri
                Loek van Wely-Sergei Karjakin
                Pentala Harikrishna-Levon Aronian
                Fabiano Caruana-Boris Gelfand
                Richard Rapport-Wesley So
                Hikaru Nakamura-Arkadij Naiditsch

                Only one Russian, Karjakin, is playing in the Masters tournament. It will be fun watching So vs Rapport. They are only 20 elo points apart.
                +++++++++++

                From a Chessdom interview with Jeroen van den Berg, Tournament Director:

                Chessdom: What coverage can the chess fans expect during Tata Steel?
                Jeroen van den Berg: Since we no longer have the Tata Steel Chess Pavilion, we have no space for live audience commentary for the public on the games. However, we will do so in a local school, but only in the weekends. That is the reason that we will start Live Stream Commentary this year. We want to give commentary for everybody. Apart from the hosts Yasser Seirawan, Lawrence Trent, and Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, we have many famous and interesting guests and interesting films about the tournament as fillers; plus many interviews with the players, so I am sure it is worth following this.

                Chessdom: Tata Steel is a traditional tournament, already in its 76th edition. Yet, it is always developing and evolving, presenting novelties every year. This year a round will be played in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and another in the High Tech Campus Eindhoven.
                Jeroen van den Berg: We are very happy with this step. It is a little bit like what the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia do with their big cycling events: bring your event to the people. I am very curious how this will work out in practice, but from what I have heard and read, the people in Amsterdam and Eindhoven are very enthusiastic.

                Chessdom: Europe is still in financial crisis. Is this affecting the organization of the Tata Steel tournament, or is the global rise of interest in chess countering the negative effects?
                Jeroen van den Berg: I cannot deny that the economic situation had some influence on our new plans, but on the other hand I am quite happy with what we are creating now. If the idea of ‘bringing the tournament to the rest of Holland’ works, it could be interesting to repeat this concept in 2015 with new cities. Why not? But first we have to wait and see how people, and the players of course, will respond.
                +++++++++

                Some C.V. Forum comments

                - What will Wesley So do? How will his game hold up against a field this strong?

                - So has a great year last year. His games have adequately matured. He had stood against the giants including the top seed Aronian. While the odds are stocked against him, he just cannot be set aside. For sure his rating will leap upwards after this tourney

                - No pure Russians, just Karjakin, who is from Simferopol. What is this? Discrimination? There are few from the Ukraine or other former Soviet republics also

                - What a great tournament, chess festival and tradition. I always look forward to Wijk aan Zee. Can't wait for the games.

                - Quite a few kibbitzers seem unaware that we are just a few weeks away from the strongest tournament ever - in Zürich - where Carlsen and Anand will meet with quite strong opposition.
And that tournament will be very interesting - as will Wijk.

                - Wesley So on the top five!

                - Last night I heard that this year, the book stalls are banned from the tournament. What I heard was that because of the tighter budget, less actual space was available and the book sellers were among the victims.
 As I have also heard, things aren't going too well with specialized chess item sellers. Some had a third of their year's income from Tata tournament sales. 
This is second-hand information, so I don't want to blame anyone here. But I think it is also in the interest of all competitors and visitors that this is undone. Yes, we can buy on internet, but that doesn't compare with the possibility of having the book in your hand and turning over the leaves, before you buy it. Many people have to make a long trip to find a specialized book shop when this possibility ceases. 
So, to everyone going to Tata: ask where the book stand is. Make them realize how important this is for the Tata experience!

                - Pairings

                Round 1 - Saturday the 11th Dominguez, L. - Giri, A. Van Wely, L. - Karjakin, S. Harikrishna, P. - Aronian, L. Caruana, F. - Gelfand, B. Rapport, R. - So, W. Nakamura, H. - Naiditsch, A.

                Round 2 - Sunday the 12th Giri, A. - Naiditsch, A. So, W. - Nakamura, H. Gelfand, B. - Rapport, R. Aronian, L. - Caruana, F. Karjakin, S. - Harikrishna, P. Dominguez, L. - Van Wely, L.

                Round 3 - Monday the 13th Van Wely, L. - Giri, A. Harikrishna, P. - Dominguez, L. Caruana, F. - Karjakin, S. Rapport, R. - Aronian, L. Nakamura, H. - Gelfand, B. Naiditsch, A. - So, W.

                Round 4 - Wednesday the 15th Giri, A. - So, W. Gelfand, B. - Naiditsch, A. Aronian, L. - Nakamura, H. Karjakin, S. - Rapport, R. Dominguez, L. - Caruana, F. Van Wely, L. - Harikrishna, P.

                Round 5 - Friday the 17th Harikrishna, P. - Giri, A. Caruana, F. - Van Wely, L. Rapport, R. - Dominguez, L. Nakamura, H. - Karjakin, S. Naiditsch, A. - Aronian, L. So, W. - Gelfand, B.

                Round 6 - Saturday the 18th Giri, A. - Gelfand, B. Aronian, L. - So, W. Karjakin, S. - Naiditsch, A. Dominguez, L. - Nakamura, H. Van Wely, L. - Rapport, R. Harikrishna, P. - Caruana, F.

                Round 7 - Sunday the 19th Caruana, F. - Giri, A. Rapport, R. - Harikrishna, P. Nakamura, H. - Van Wely, L. Naiditsch, A. - Dominguez, L. So, W. - Karjakin, S. Gelfand, B. - Aronian, L.

                Round 8 - Tuesday the 21st Giri, A. - Aronian, L. Karjakin, S. - Gelfand, B. Dominguez, L. - So, W. Van Wely, L. - Naiditsch, A. Harikrishna, P. - Nakamura, H. Caruana, F. - Rapport, R.

                Round 9 - Thursday the 23rd Rapport, R. - Giri, A. Nakamura, H. - Caruana, F. Naiditsch, A. - Harikrishna, P. So, W. - Van Wely, L. Gelfand, B. - Dominguez, L. Aronian, L. - Karjakin, S.

                Round 10 - Saturday the 25th Giri, A. - Karjakin, S. Dominguez, L. - Aronian, L. Van Wely, L. - Gelfand, B. Harikrishna, P. - So, W. Caruana, F. - Naiditsch, A. Rapport, R. - Nakamura, H.

                Round 11 - Sunday the 26th Nakamura, H. - Giri, A. Naiditsch, A. - Rapport, R. So, W. - Caruana, F. Gelfand, B. - Harikrishna, P. Aronian, L. - Van Wely, L. Van Wely, L. - Dominguez, L.

                The distribution of rest days is very strange compared to the norm but makes sense given the organizers probably wanted to surround the rounds placed off the main site with rest days. still there are quite a few rest days interspersed throughout the event. I can see that as being good for certain players and bad for others. Highly irregular.
                ++++++++

                Official Site: http://www.tatasteelchess.com/

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

                  According to a tweet from Susan Polgar just a few minutes ago, Wesley So missed his connection in St.Louis due to weather-related airline issues and likely will arrive at the tournament barely before Round 1 begins! Let us hope he can sleep on the plane... Not a great start to be sure! Best of luck to him regardless; he is a classy player and apparently a gentleman.
                  ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

                    Originally posted by Walter De Jong View Post
                    Off topic re TATA, on topic re Pan-Ams: I see Illinois "A" finished 3rd in 2013. Last year they finished 5th. In both years the Illinois "A" team performed considerably better than their average rating (2150-2225) would have predicted. In 2013 alone they defeated three teams with average ratings above 2400. Cinderella story?

                    I guess there is always hope!
                    The 'Skokie Review' has a nice feature today on the Illinois team. Lol, apparently there's a day in Skokie named after their #1 board, Eric Rosen.

                    http://skokie.suntimes.com/people/ch...162014:article

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

                      Maybe Tata Steel would be interested in sponsoring a chess event in Canada considering they have a partnership relationship with at least one iron ore producer in the Labrador trough.

                      Possibly something the CFC might want to explore, or not explore.
                      Gary Ruben
                      CC - IA and SIM

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

                        From chess-news.ru

                        Force majeur on the Way from St. Louis to Wijk aan Zee: Wesley So Hopes to Get to Round 1

                        Saturday, 11.01.2014


                        Two GMs Baadur Jobava and Wesley So didn't attend the opening ceremony of the two competitions taking place in Wijk aan Zee. Georgian player will get to the Netherlands tonight as planned. Wesley So is in a much more complicated situation: his flight from St. Louis to Chicago arrived later, so GM was late for his flight Chicago - London - Amsterdam. Now So is waiting for another flight, supposedly he will get to Wijk aan Zee tomorrow by the start of Round 1 (13:30 local time). His rival in Round 1 is Richard Rapport.

                        Wow! Fly all night and try to put aside fatigue and jet lag because you are meeting Rapport a few hours later.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

                          Not such a grand event this year. Just 4 of the top 10 players are playing. Apparently, there has been a budget cut.
                          Small Business Coaching

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

                            Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

                            Round One

                            Saturday, January 11, 2014

                            All the games are underway. Yasser Seirawan is giving the commentary. They have had some technical problems with the sound so far.

                            He had the sad news that GM Vugar Gashimov passed away today at the age of 27. His last tournament was at Wijk two years ago. There was a moment of silence at the start of the games.

                            From Chessdom this morning:

                            Vugar Gashimov, a fantastic person and top chess player, has passed away tonight. For a long time Vugar Gashimov was treated for epilepsy. Last year he was moved to a treatment center in Germany with state support. Local AZE agencies inform a cause for the fatal end was a recently discovered brain tumor. Gashimov was born on July 24, 1986 in Baku. He is a national chess champion 1995, 1996 and in 1998, and also winner of international tournaments Acropolis, Cappelle La Grande, and Reggio Emilia. His peak rating was 2761 in January 2012. In European Team Championship 2011 Gashimov was happy for the individual gold and team silver medal. Gashimov hasn’t competed since Tata Steel 2012 due to his illness.
                            +++++++++++++

                            Tata Steel 2014 Masters
                            Round One
                            January 11, 2014
                            Richard Rapport-Wesley So
                            A01: Larsen's Opening


                            1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bd6 5. Na3 a6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Nc4 Qe7 8. Ne2 b5 9. Nxd6+ cxd6 10. a4 b4 11. O-O O-O 12. Ng3 Nd5 13. f4 f6 14. a5 c5 15. fxe5 fxe5 16. Rxf8+ Qxf8 17. Qe2 Qe7 18. Qd3 Bb7 19. Rf1 Qd7 20. Qc4 Kh8 21. Qh4 Qe6 22. Qe4 Bc6 23. Qf5 Qe7 24. Ne4 Rd8 25. h4 Kg8 26. h5 Bd7 27. Qf3 Bb5 28. d3 h6 29. Ng3 Qe6 30. Nf5 Ne7 31. Nh4 Bd7 32. Bc1 Re8 33. e4 Kh7 34. Nf5 Nxf5 35. exf5 Qf6 36. Qb7 Bb5 37. Qe4 d5 38. Qxd5 e4 39. Bf4 exd3 40. cxd3 Re2 41. Qf3 Qd4+ 42. Kh2 Qxd3 43. Qg4 Rxg2+ 44. Qxg2 Qxf1 45. Qg6+ Kh8 46. Bxh6 Qf2+ 47. Kh1 Qe1+ 48. Kh2 Qe5+ 49. Kh1 gxh6 50. Qxh6+ Kg8 51. Qg6+ Qg7 52. Qe6+ Qf7 53. Qc8+ Qf8 54. Qe6+ Qf7 55. Qc8+ Qe8 56. Qxc5 Qc6+ 0-1

                            Wesley arrived at Amsterdam Airport at 9:30 a.m. Saturday and was allowed to delay the start of his game by one hour.

                            He made a grand entrance to the tournament hall – described here by Chess Vibes:

                            Spectators noticed So's unconventional entree, the kind of thing that happens when you spend more than a day in airplanes: he mistakenly came into the playing hall from the main hall, where the amateurs play, then bent down and went under the wooden wall, got up again too quickly and hit his head, and then finally reached his board. Amazingly, the Philippine managed to win that first game!

                            One of the first games to end was Caruana-Gelfand.
                            This game was over after 18...f5

                            Tata Steel 2014 Masters
                            Round One January 11 2014
                            Fabiano Caruana-Boris Gelfand
                            B90: Najdorf Sicilian

                            1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 h5 9. Nd5 Bxd5 10. exd5 Nbd7 11. Qd2 g6 12. Be2 Bg7 13. O-O O-O 14. Rac1 b6 15. h3 Re8 16. g4 hxg4 17. hxg4 Nh7 18. g5 f5 19. gxf6 Bxf6 20. Rf2 Bg5 21. Rg2 Bxe3+ 22. Qxe3 Ndf8 23. Bd3 Ra7 24. Rf1 Rf7 25. Qh6 Kh8 26. Nd2 Rf4 27. Rg4 b5 28. Ne4 Nd7 29. Rxg6 Rg8 30. Ng5 1-0
                            ++++++++++

                            Results of the First Round

                            Leinier Dominguez-Anish Giri 0.5-0.5
                            Loek van Wely-Sergey Karjakin 0-1
                            Pentala Harikrishana-Levon Aronian 0.5-0.5
                            Fabiano Caruana-Boris Gelfand 1-0
                            Richard Rapport-Wesley So 0-1
                            Hikaru Nakamura-Arkadij Naiditsch 1-0
                            +++++++++

                            There is also a Challengers’ Tournament. These two comments amused me about it:

                            - The Challengers group is also a part of this tournament. Please don't discount them.

                            That started with an upset when the top rated Wojtaszek in Challengers lost to Reinderman, partly due to his purple hair and partly due to his excellent endgame play.

                            - Agreed about Reinderman. Ever since Ruy Lopez advised players to set the board so that the sun would bother their opponent's eyes, various tricks have been tried. Reinderman's was a refinement of Lopez's idea: -) That was a fine endgame.

                            Tata Steel 2014 Challengers
                            Round One January 11 2014
                            Radoslaw Wojtaszek-Dimitri Reinderman
                            A40: Queen's Pawn, Keres Defence

                            1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. a3 f5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. g3 Ba6 6. Bg2 c6 7. b3 d5 8. Nh3 Bd6 9. Nf4 Qe7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. a4 O-O 13. Nb5 Bxb5 14. axb5 Rfc8 15. Bb2 Nf8 16. e3 Qd7 17. Qd3 Ne4 18. Ne2 Rc7 19. Rfc1 Rac8 20. Rxc7 Qxc7 21. Rc1 Qd7 22. Rxc8 Qxc8 23. f3 Nf6 24. Nc3 Bb4 25. Na2 Bd6 26. Bc3 Ng6 27. Nb4 Ne7 28. Qd2 h6 29. Nd3 Qd7 30. Bb4 Ne8 31. Bxd6 Nxd6 32. Ne5 Qxb5 33. Qc3 Nf7 34. Bf1 Qa5 35. Qxa5 bxa5 36. Nd7 Nd6 37. Kf2 Nc6 38. Nc5 Kf7 39. Ke2 g5 40. Kd3 Ke7 41. Be2 f4 42. gxf4 gxf4 43. exf4 Nf5 44. Bf1 Ncxd4 45. Bh3 Nxf3 46. Nb7 Nxh2 47. Nxa5 Kd7 48. b4 h5 49. Bxf5 exf5 50. Nb3 Nf3 51. Ke3 Nh4 52. Nd4 Kc7 53. Kf2 Ng6 54. Kf3 Ne7 55. Kg3 Nc6 56. Nxf5 Nxb4 57. Kh4 Nd3 58. Kxh5 Nxf4+ 59. Kg5 Ne2 60. Kg4 Kb6 61. Kf3 Nc3 62. Ke3 Nb5 63. Kd3 Kc5 64. Ne3 a5 65. Kc2 a4 66. Nd1 Na3+ 67. Kd3 Nc4 68. Nc3 a3 69. Na2 d4 70. Kc2 Na5 71. Nc1 Kc4 0-1
                            Last edited by Wayne Komer; Sunday, 12th January, 2014, 01:29 AM. Reason: added late results

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014

                              Peter Doggers has a lovely tribute to Vugar Gashimov at ChessVibes.

                              http://www.chessvibes.com/vugar-gashimov-dies-at-27

                              Comment

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