Tata Steel 2023

[Hans Jung]

L'Ami grinds Donchenko in the endgame to win and Yilmaz, who won his game, takes over the lead in the challengers

[Hans Jung]

Big upsets. L'Ami who was having a bad tournament had a key upset win over the leader Donchenko. In the masters Vincent Keymer who was in last place looks like he will upset Abdusattarov.

Very resourceful play and a bit lucky by Abdusattorov. It means he will keep his half point lead over Giri after 9 rounds.

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

Abdusattarov is very impressive. He held the draw against Keymer while having an horrible position to defend for 4 hours. Great tenacity. The kid is good in defense and offense. Maybe a future world champion. Too early to say but he surely is one of the top contenders right now. What a talent. Does anybody knows what's happening to Firouza ? Alireza is showing some Fischer's resemblance, good for chess, very bad in character.

[Hans Jung]

I think its way to early to say that Alireza Firouzja is showing Fischer's character. Alireza is absolutely charming, a delightful young man.

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

He has not played in an important tournament in 6 months since the Sinquefeld Cup which he won handily. We don't see him playing chess anywhere. Don't know what he is doing.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 10 challengers Big win for Donchenko. Actually his opponent just fell apart in a good middlegame position. Back to tie for first with Donchenko and Yilmaz.

[Hans Jung]

After round 10 Carlsen inches closer with a win. Its still Abdusattorov in the lead a half point ahead of Giri and a point ahead of Carlsen and So. Still a very tight field with 3 rounds to go.

[Hans Jung]

Rest day today (Thursday)

[Hans Jung]

Rd 11 in the masters the game between first and second in the standings Giri - Abdusattarov was a draw. Abdusattarov still leads by half a point over Giri with two rounds to go.

[Hans Jung]

Its nice sometimes to watch good defenders working squares. Interesting to see Wesley So defend against Magnus in the endgame in a task that most players would find thankless. Wesley successfully trades queen and goes into an endgame with knight and bishop simplifying step by step. Also Maghsoodloo against Pragga 17.Nf5 must be wrong but its a pleasure to see how Black takes the intiative and counter with d5 and build a strong pawn formation. Really enjoyed the finish in the Maghsoodloo game.

[Hans Jung]

Donchenko wins a fine positional effort and takes a clear lead (again).

[Hans Jung]

Beerdsen has an interesting style. His use of the knights against Ivic was noteworthy and the queen domination at the end.

[Hans Jung]

https://en.chessbase.com/post/tata-s...023-endgames-3 We are blessed with 3 endgame articles from the good doctor Karsten Mueller on Tata Steel. This is the third article.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 12 Crunch time. In the challengers Donchenko takes matters into his own hands with a lovely miniature win in the Caro Kann!

[Hans Jung]

In the masters interesting game between Van Foreest - Giri (intense rivalries these Dutch players!) From a dry Queen's Gambit Van Foreest sacked an exchange and revealed his attacking intentions. Giri plays Rb6, Rc6, Rg6, and Rg7 plugging the gap in his kings position and defending his kingside weaknesses. Old fashioned defence that also strangely (because of the semi-open G file) keeps his rook active.