Another round of the Tata Steel Chess 2024 in Wijk aan Zee brought many interesting games and exciting results. Anish Giri successfully kept the sole lead in the event, but Alireza Firouzja closed the gap on the top. In the meantime, 17-year-old IM Eline Roebers again stunned the world and scored her second consecutive victory in the Challengers tournament. After defeating the top-seeded Hans Niemann in the 5th round, she yesterday took down a three-time Turkish Chess Champion Mustafa Yilmaz.
Anish Giri vs Parham Maghsoodloo | 1/2-1/2
Anish Giri opted for 1.c4 against Maghsoodloo, and the position transposed to some type of Catalan. The early middlegame featured a highly dynamical set-up with heterogeneous castles, but the evaluation was around equality for most of the time. Under the time pressure, Maghsoodloo cracked and made a huge mistake with 36…Qd6? It seemed for a second that Giri saw a winning motive, but after only two moves he decided to trade Queens and went into a drawish rooks endgame with a pawn up. Maghsoodloo hold it and a draw was signed shortly after.
Alireza Firouzja vs Wei Yi | 1-0
After yesterday’s loss to World Women’s Chess Champion Ju Wenjun, Firouzja bounced back and defeated Wenjun’s compatriot Wei Yi. The players traded most of the pieces in the early part of the middlegame, but Firouzja went out from trades with a pawn-up. He was pressing for a win and improved his advantage with every single move. Realizing there’s no chance to escape, Wei Yi resigned in the 46th move.
GM Mustafa Yilmaz vs IM Eline Roebers | 0-1
17-year-old Eline Roebers stunned again and scored her second win in the tournament after a strike of four losses in the first four rounds. Playing Black against three-time Turkish Chess Champion Mustafa Yilmaz, Eline chose King’s Indian Defense and a very dynamical position. Yilmaz made a big mistake with 31.Kh1? when Eline started to take over control. She won the piece, but it wasn’t an easy win. The six-hour game marathon concluded after 85 moves with a victory for the Dutch.
After six played rounds, standings in the Masters tournament look as follows:
| 1 | Giri, Anish | 4½/6 | 2749 |
| 2 | Firouzja, Alireza | 4/6 | 2759 |
| 3 | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 3½/6 | 2727 |
| 4 | Praggnanandhaa | 3½/6 | 2743 |
| 5 | Gukesh | 3½/6 | 2725 |
| 6 | Warmerdam, Max | 3½/6 | 2625 |
| 7 | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 3/6 | 2742 |
| 8 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 3/6 | 2769 |
| 9 | Ding Liren | 3/6 | 2780 |
| 10 | Wei Yi | 3/6 | 2740 |
| 11 | Ju Wenjun | 2½/6 | 2549 |
| 12 | Van Foreest, Jorden | 2/6 | 2682 |
| 13 | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 1½/6 | 2740 |
| 14 | Donchenko, Alexander | 1½/6 | 2643 |
The 7th round starts today (January 20, 2024) at 14:00 CET. The pairings are:
- Vidit Santosh Gujrathi vs Alireza Firouzja
- Alexander Donchenko vs Ju Wenjun
- Gukesh D vs Max Warmerdam
- Praggnanandhaa vs Jorden Van Foreest
- Parham Maghsoodloo vs Ian Nepomniachtchi
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs Anish Giri
- Wei Yi vs Ding Liren
Live broadcast of the games can be followed here, and live games with computer analysis are available on the following link.
Photos by Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit
