Tata Steel Masters 2024: Firouzja closes the gap

In Round 6 of Tata Steel Masters 2024, Anish Giri missed a chance to win facing Parham Maghsoodloo, and but preserved his leading position. Alireza Firouzja scored an important victory over Wei Yi and moved up to second position, trailing the leader by a half-point. Max Warmerdam defeated Alexander Donchenko and reached the +1 mark. 

Alireza Firouzja – Wei Yi | 1-0, 42 moves

Wei Yi comfortably equalized in the QGA following the game Aronian – Gukesh D (Chennai Masters 2023). However, the Chinese GM let his guard down for a minute, which eventually cost him the game. 

Instead of 22…Rxd1 23. Rxd1 g5 Black played 22…g5 straight away but after 22. Kxe3 g5 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Nc5! Bc8? 25. a4 White exerted dangerous pressure on the queenside and eventually won a pawn. Black could have resisted much more resiliently but probably upset by this turn of events Wei went down meekly. 

Anish Giri – Parham Maghsoodloo | ½-½, 52 moves

Parham did a poor job on the black side of the Reti Opening and, by move 17, found himself in a very bad, virtually lost position. 

Luckily for the Iranian, instead of 20. Qa3 (20. Qa5) Anish simply snatched the e4-pawn, which proved to be a serious inaccuracy. After 20. Qxe4 fxe5 21. fxe5? (21.f5 was much better) Rd5 22. Bd4 Nd7 23. Rf2 Re8 Black regained the e5-pawn and got serious counterplay. 

Right before the time control, the opponents traded grave mistakes, with White missing a clear, although not-so-easy-to-find, win. 

Anish could have wrapped it up with 38. Qf6! The point is that 38…Rxg6 fails to 39. Qh8+ Kb7 40. Rf7+ Ka6 (40… Kc6 41. Qc3+ Kd5 42. Qf3+ Kc4 43. Qb3+) 41. Qc8+ Kb5 42. Rf5+ Kxb4 43. a3+. Giri however, played 38. Qxg3 which lead to a draw in a rook endgame after 38… Qxg3+ 39. Kxg3 Rxg6+ 40. Kf4 Rf6+ 41. Ke3 Re6+ 42. Kd4 Rd6+ 43. Ke5 Rd2, and so on.

Jorden Van Foreest – Gukesh D | 1-0, 42 moves

The Dutch GM sacrificed a pawn in the Scotch Game, for which he got sufficient compensation in a fresh, unbalanced position. With his 20th move, Gukesh committed a serious inaccuracy, but Jorden returned the favor, missing a great opportunity and handing the advantage to his opponent. 

After the correct 22. Qe3, Black would have had a hard time finding a safe place for his king. The Dutchman, however, overoptimistically played 22. Qf2? and after 22… Nbxd3 23. cxd3 Nxd3 24. Qd4 Rg8 25. Ng3 Nc5 26. e5 Ne6 27. Qb2 Bc6 28. exd6 O-O-O Black launched a vicious attack. 

The final portion of the game was somewhat hectic with the opponents trading errors, but when the dust settled, Black came off victorious on move 45. 

Ju Venjun – Vidit Gujrathi | ½-½, 27 moves

Playing on the black side of the Nimzo-Indian Vidit went for a position with so-called hanging pawns in the center, which does not offer White much. Most likely, the Women’s World Champion did not feel like fighting today as instead of transferring her queen to the queenside with some interesting options, she forced a draw by repetition on move 27. 

 Ian Nepomniachtchi – Praggnanandhaa R | ½-½, 44 moves

The opponents followed the footsteps of Gukesh and Narayanan (Sharja Open 2023) for quite a while, but the young Indian deviated with seemingly dangerous but possible 9…b6. In subsequent complex maneuvering, Black planted his knight to d3 and captured the h6-pawn, but White got more than sufficient compensation in the form of two bishops and unpleasant pressure on the queenside. When it looked like Ian was tipping the balance in his favor, Pragg came up with an excellent positional sacrifice. 

In the normal course of events, Black is doomed for a tough defence. For this very reason, Pragg uncorked 33…Nxd4! and after 34. exd4 Bxd4 35. Kh1 Qf6 36. Qf3 Qxf3 37. Bxf3 Rc2 38. Kg2 Ra2 Black got sufficient compensation for the knight. Five moves down the road, the opponents split a point in an equal position. 

Ding Liren – Nodirbek Abdusattorov| ½-½, 30 moves

The game saw a popular line of the QGA tested on the highest level. The World Champion introduced a new move 13. Re1, but after massive exchanges in the center, Black managed to trade his c5-pawn for White’s d-passer, which resulted in a draw in a symmetrical endgame. 

Max Warmerdam – Alexander Donchenko | 1-0, 42 moves

Warmerdam introduced a novelty in a popular line of the King’s Indian Petrosian (the first line of Stockfish), ignoring Black’s clamp on the queenside with a5-a4 and emerged clearly better. White eventually besieged and captured Black’s a4 pawn, but Black transferred his knight to d4 and got some counterplay. It was still wide open at that point, but Alexander blundered on move 27, completely ruining his position. Max picked up two pawns, sacrificed an exchange and cruised to victory. 

Final standings after Round 6:

Masters pairings

Photos: Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024

Official website: tatasteelchess.com