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The 2019 Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz will become the first GCT event ever to be held in Asia when the event commences in Kolkata in November. The tournament is sponsored by Tata Steel India and organised by Gameplan Sports Pvt. Ltd and was an instant hit when it was run as an independent event in 2018. GM Hikaru Nakamura won the rapid segment while the home town favourite GM Viswanathan Anand recorded a memorable victory in the blitz. Both players will be back in 2019 but with a significantly stronger field including no less than World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
DATES
November 22 - 26, 2019
VENUE
National Library of India, Kolkata, India
FORMAT
10 Player Round Robin
PRIZE FUND
$150,000
PARTICIPANTS
Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura
Ding Liren
Levon Aronian
Wesley So
Ian Nepomniachtchi
Anish Giri
Viswanathan Anand
Vidit Gujrathi
Pentala Harikrishna
SCHEDULE
Rapid
November 22 Rounds 1 to 3
November 23 Rounds 4 to 6
November 24 Rounds 7 to 9
Blitz
November 25 Rounds 1 to 9
November 26 Rounds 10 to 18
First round begins at 14:00 local Kolkata or 3:30 AM Toronto/Montreal
Anish Giri grabbed the lead right from the start repeating the scenario of the Grand Chess Tour event in Bucharest. In the first game, he defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi with Black. Russian GM was slightly better in the Catalan, but made a terrible mistake with 28.Qxa1?? completely forgetting about a dangerous black e-pawn. After 28...Qe6 White had to give up a knight to stop the pawn and was completely lost after that.
All other Round 1 games were drawn. There were two more Catalan Openings - Harikrishna never got anything substantial against his compatriot Vidit, whereas Ding Liren had some pressure versus Anand, but seemingly wasn't in a mood for a big fight.
Aronian tried to surprise Nakamura with quite a rare line in Italian Game, but the American GM was clearly unimpressed and equalized with ease.
All eyes in Round 1 were on the rematch of the Fischer Random Championship final between Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen. In one of the sharpest lines of Najdorf (6.h3), Carlsen had some counterplay on the queenside but apparently blundered a pawn with 22...Bb6. Despite being a pawn up though, So never had a real chance to score a full point. With all the pawns on the same side of the board, Carlsen held him for a draw.
Round 2
Carlsen played with his "classical games' Nemesis" Nepomniachtchi and proved that in rapid he was a better player today. World Champion avoided major theory lines in the Sicilian but grabbed an opening advantage with the maneuver Nf3-d2-b3-a5 anyway. He denied his opponent of any counterplay and created an extremely strong passed pawn on the Queen's side. Nepomniachtchi tried to escape but to no avail.
Anand also scored a victory in Round 2 and joined the leaders. In classical Ruy Lopez Anand used the a-file to penetrate into Wesley So's camp, but Fischer Random Champion was OK until he missed a nice geometrical knight maneuver. Anand won a pawn, but not a game as Black still had good chances for a draw. At some moment So had an easy escape but missed that he could go for a pawn ending. Now he needed to find some precise moves to hold the game but with time ticking down he didn't manage to do it. Anand won a second pawn and the game.
Giri didn't have a real chance to retain a sole lead - his game with Aronian was an uneventful draw. Harikrishna had White second time in a row and this time he was close to his first victory. After he won a central pawn, Ding Liren's position looked just lost, but somehow the Chinese GM activated his queen to regain a pawn and then this very queen ran all the way back to d8 to stop White's passer. Probably the Indian wild-card missed some opportunities, but Ding's creative defense is highly commendable anyway.
The most double-edged game was the encounter Vidit - Nakamura. Once again, Catalan Opening was played where Vidit had some chances to grab the initiative. He missed several active moves though and at the very end, Nakamura even had a chance to play for a win with a computer move 40...Qd2!, but opted for an immediate draw.
Round 3
After two losses, Nepo got into the beast mode, and Anand became a victim. In the English opening, Nepomniachtchi planted his knight on f5 and then went for a breakthrough in the center. After a careless 17...Rfe8? Ian found a simple combination that forced Anand to resign on move 22.
In the central game of the round, Aronian and Carlsen fought in the Najdorf Sicilian with the opposite-side castling. Around move 25 Grand Chess Tour Bucharest winner missed a strong continuation, and it was all Carlsen after that. First, Black's queen found a way into White's fortifications and then a timely piece sacrifice left Aronian in dire straits. Levon defended stubbornly to bring the game to the ending with two light pieces against a rook, but Black’s extra pawns turned to be a decisive factor. In a completely winning position, Carlsen misplaced his rook on g7, thus allowing Aronian to save a half-point with an easy 49.Nf4+! but Levon also missed this move and soon resigned.
Even more improbable miss decided the result of the encounter Ding Liren - Vidit. The world #3 from China was pressing the whole game and came very close to converting his advantage in the middle game. Vidit was defending really well and finally reached a drawish rook ending. He was the first to make a mistake there allowing the white king to invade the queenside where his Majesty took Black’s last pawn. With mere seconds on his clock, Vidit continued what looked like hopeless resistance and somehow saved a draw after Ding made an unbelievable blunder in a well-known position with 79.a7+?? As a result, the game ended with a stalemate.
Playing versus Giri, Nakamura sacrificed a pawn to ruin Black's pawn structure on the Queen's side in the endgame. Giri's position was unpleasant but not hopeless by any means, but he clearly underestimated the danger and soon found himself in big trouble. Nakamura was ruthless demonstrating an excellent endgame technique. So was pushing for a win against Harikrishna but Indian GM managed to defend all his weak pawns with two bishops and the game ended peacefully.
26.c4! was the move for White, since 26…Bxc4? 27.Nxc4 Rxc4 is losing to 28.hxg6!, with no piece on the 7th rank to defend h7. Magnus commented:
I saw c4 and I was going to go 26…Qb6. I don’t doubt that it’s great for White, but I couldn’t see what to do.
Instead, though, Levon chose 26.Rc3!? 26.Rbc8 27.Rxc7, with Magnus pointing that out as the moment the game swung in his favour
With the games starting at 3:30 AM, one can’t follow the games live. In the middle of the night, I switched on my smartphone and followed Svidler’s commentary in bed and slowly wafted off to sleep.
After several lackluster performances (by the World Champion’s standards) Magnus Carlsen seems to be back to his winning ways in Kolkata. In Round 4, he played with his closest pursuer Hikaru Nakamura and won this key game. Nakamura probably mixed something up in the opening as Carlsen got an extremely strong pawn center and a clear advantage. Hikaru defended resourcefully giving up a pawn to stop White’s onslaught but made a crucial misstep with 35…Rb8. After an easy 36.Rc1 White was not only a pawn up, but also much more active. Carlsen converted his advantage comfortably and broke away from the field.
Anand came back after the disaster against Nepo from yesterday. In a very complex Giuoco Piano middle game, Aronian played really well against him, but not quickly enough. Running out of time, the Armenian GM stumbled and gave up a piece. That’s not the kind of advantage you can hand to one of the game’s greatest. After this victory, Anand was on 5 points.
A few days ago Nepo convincingly won an online match against Ding, but it looks like both players are far from their best in Kolkata. After an unbelievable mistake in the handbook rook endgame yesterday, Ding Liren lost with white pieces against So. Ding was much better after the opening and was looking for winning chances, but somehow missed an easy pin with an ill-advised Rc8-e8 maneuver. The Chinese GM lost a knight and resigned immediately. The game Harikrishna – Nepomniachtchi saw a remake of Nepo’s yesterday triumph against Anand, but this time Ian was playing a victim. After Harikrishna obtained a dominating position with a strong knight on f5, Russian GM tried to escape in a tactical skirmish. It did not work as the local wild card found an elegant 28.Rc2 and secured his first victory in the event. Giri was trying to play for a win against Vidit with Black, but after a series of exchanges had to agree to a draw.
Round 5
The World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen scored another victory, this time with Black against Anish Girl. With a strong pawn on e6 and the bishop aiming for a cool c5 square, Giri’s position after the opening looked very attractive. Strangely enough, a natural 18.Bc5 was the turning point of the game – Black’s bishops became very active, White had to retreat his pieces, whereas the e6-pawn gradually turned into a weakness. After transposing into a better endgame, Carlsen once again demonstrated his impeccable technique.
Anand recently lost a few games in which his opponents launched a direct attack on his king, and it looks like it was Nakamura’s plan for their Round 5 encounter. This time though Anand wasn’t going down without a fight. His queen returned to the king’s rescue just in time and the game ended with a perpetual.
It is quite a challenge to play Marshall Attack against Levon Aronian, who is indisputably the best expert in this always-popular line. Harikrishna wasn’t up to this challenge today. He had two bishops being a pawn down in the endgame, but Aronian eventually ground him down and finally got his first win in Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz.
Both Nepo and Ding have been underperforming in Kolkata so far, and the fifth round Ian’s troubles continued. The Chinese GM was slowly outmaneuvering him in a typical Rui Lopez middle game, but the outcome was still unclear until Nepo just left his rook hanging.
Another Ruy Lopez brought So and Vidit to a queen endgame where the former was looking for the opportunities to play for a win, and the latter was defending. Eventually, Vidit lost the track of the game and threw in the towel.
Round 6
In Round 6, Carlsen faced off against Indian wildcard Vidit Gujrathi. Vidit surprised chess fans by winning a pawn early on and then spent most of the game pressing for a win. However, Carlsen defended his position precisely and held on for a draw. With four victories and two draws so far, the World Champion sits comfortably on top of the leaderboard with 10 points.
The American grandmasters Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura are tied for second place with 7 points each. After a slow start on the first day, So turned in a fine performance today by defeating Ding and Vidit and drawing with Nepomniachtchi. Nakamura managed to rebound from his Round 4 loss by drawing with Anand in Round 5 and defeating Harikrishna in round 6. With one more day of rapid chess and two days of blitz to go, the tournament is still very much up for grabs.
The postings on this tournament on the English Chess Forum are mixed with comments on cricket, viz:
The GCT players are staying in the same hotel as the Indian cricket time, who also started play today. In their case it is in a Test Match against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Representatives of the Board of Control for Cricket in India attended the Opening Ceremony for the Tata Steel Chess India event and Tania Sachdev introduced the chess commentary from Eden Gardens.
The chess will last the full five days whatever happens, but the cricket may not. In that eventuality it will be interesting to see whether any of the Indian cricketers stay on to watch the chess.
Two of the best grandmasters at remembering games of the past are Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen.
After the opening ceremonies in Kolkata, IM Sagar Shah held a small quiz he had set with the World Champion Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi and Erwin l'Ami. The quiz dealt with the best games of Anand's chess career (because the players were in India and Vishy will turn 50 in a few days!) and the players had to guess Anand's best move and also the opponent in the game. Magnus Carlsen impressed one and all with his memory!
Magnus and Vidit were the best performers scoring 8.0/9. But the ninth position was the one that no one could solve! Magnus was very impressive because he could remember not only the move (that he could even work out by looking at the position), but he also knew the name of the tournament and the year in which it was held! Now this is simply tremendous!
Golly, you’re right John. I took the results off the screen from the end of the replay tape but obviously got it as far as Blitz Round 8. Thanks for the correction.
Carlsen’s Rapid Performance
Magnus Carlsen performed at an astronomical Elo of 3027 at the Tata Steel Chess India 2019 Rapid. He scored 15.0/18, with six wins and three draws. According to Magnus, this was his best performance ever in rapid format. He gained 36.8 Elo points, taking his rapid rating to 2885. He also overtook MVL and thus became World no.1 in rapid. Hikaru Nakamura took the second spot with 11.0/18 and Wesley So was third. The tournament has not yet ended of course — we've moved to the blitz section with 18 more rounds to be played.
- Magnus burning time. This is alarming
- 22.f4 is too risky
- Magnus is an exchange down
- Wow, Magnus left with 1 minute in complicated middle game and he starts sacrificing material
- Ding is close to handing Magnus his first loss of the tourney
- 28…Rg8!!
- Wow, Magnus’s first loss
- 27.Qxg5 lost, so what, this is speedy Gonzales chess, not to be taken seriously
At the end of another exciting day of chess, Magnus Carlsen was crowned as the winner of the 2019 Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz. Despite starting the day under the weather, he scored 5.5 points in the final 9 blitz games, netting an impressive 27 total points. The World Champion surpassed his 26.5 point record from the Cote D’Ivoire Rapid & Blitz earlier this year.
“It’s a big deal for me to have a good performance here. I haven’t played so well in rapid and blitz lately, and I think with this result, I showed I’m still the man to beat,” said Carlsen. Across the entire event, Magnus lost just two games; both in the blitz portion to Ding Liren.
The World Blitz #1 Hikaru Nakamura maintained his ranking on top of the rating list with a solid performance today. He scored 5.5/9 points and finished in clear second place with 23 total points. Nakamura did not lose a single game in the 18 rounds of blitz. His only loss was to Carlsen in round 4 of the rapid portion. Hikaru proved why he’s still the top-rated blitz player in the world and took home $25,000 for his efforts.
After another roller-coaster day for Vishy Anand, his hopes of qualifying for the GCT Finals came to an end. He fell just short of earning the 5 GCT points needed to pass Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the GCT Standings. Despite winning some games early in the day, Anand suffered a few heartbreaking losses. In Round 15 of blitz, he ran out of time with a winning position against Anish Giri; in the penultimate round, he lost to Magnus Carlsen in a chaotic game that could have gone either way.
Levon Aronian had a very disappointing performance as he was struggling to find his form throughout the event and finished in the last place. GM Peter Svidler commented on the abysmal performance: “I don’t think I’ve seen him play this poorly in a blitz tournament in my life.” However, Aronian did perform well enough in previous GCT events this year to qualify for the finals. He will have just a few days to recover and find a better form.
The four GCT finalists will be Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Ding Liren (China), Levon Aronian (Armenia), and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France). The GCT Finals will commence in just 6 days in London. The action can be followed with live commentary from GMs Peter Svidler, Alejandro Ramirez, Maurice Ashley, and WGM Jennifer Shahade from Monday, December 2 through Sunday, December 8.
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