Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee 15-31 January 2016

[Carl Hibbard]

Svidler on commentary today on chess24live

Thanks for that nice coverage and on my telly again.

[Mick Norris]

Round 7 today
Navara (2.5) -Karjakin (3), Caruana (4) -Ding (4) , Wei (3) -So (3.5), Mamedyarov (2.5) -Hou (3.5), Van Wely (2) -Giri (3), Tomashevsky (2) -Adams (1.5), Eljanov (3.5) -Carlsen (4).

[LawrenceCooper]

In the Challengers WGM Anne Haast (2391) is on 0/4 and will play her 5th GM (correction - TODAY, not tomorrow). Last year she "only scored 4.0/13, but that was good enough to win 10 rating points". This year's Challengers is stronger and she will be lucky to do as well.

GM Nisipeanu, L. (3½) 2679 0-1 WGM Haast, Anne (0) 2391

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 7 today
Navara (2.5) -Karjakin (3), Caruana (4) -Ding (4) , Wei (3) -So (3.5), Mamedyarov (2.5) -Hou (3.5), Van Wely (2) -Giri (3), Tomashevsky (2) -Adams (1.5), Eljanov (3.5) -Carlsen (4).

Third win in a row for Carlsen defeating Eljanov in a complex game where black took risks to unbalance the position and was ultimately rewarded. Tomashevsky-Adams was an uneventful draw and Navara-Karjakin was also drawn but with a bit more happening.

[Mick Norris]

Top Standings after round 7

1-2. Caruana, Carlsen 5
3-5. So, Giri, Ding 4
6-10. Hou, Wei, Karjakin, Eljanov, Mamedyarov 3.5

[Mick Norris]

Round 8 - Sunday the 24th
Karjakin, S. - Carlsen, M.
Adams, M. - Eljanov, P.
Giri, A. - Tomashevsky, E.
Hou, Y. - Van Wely, L.
So, W. - Mamedyarov, S.
Ding, L. - Wei, Y.
Navara, D. - Caruana, F.

[LawrenceCooper]

https://chess24.com/en/live/video/eljan ... r-analysis

Jan Gustafsson video on Eljanov-Carlsen.

[Matt Mackenzie]

The outcome of Nisipeanu v Haast was somewhat unexpected on previous form

[John McKenna]

The outcome of Nisipeanu v Haast was somewhat unexpected on previous form

Nisipeanu played like Haast has been playing. She gave a brief interview in English -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65ofDqfBpMM

[Roger de Coverly]

The outcome of Nisipeanu v Haast was somewhat unexpected on previous form

The commentators, Svidler and the German guy, took time out from the main event to take a look at the game. What they were saying was that although Black's position looks promising, that with the right moves, White can consolidate and be better. That's not what happened.

For future reference, here's the game.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. Nbd2 a6 7. Bb3 Ba7 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 Nh5 10. Re1 Qf6 11. d4 exd4 12. e5 Nxe5 13. Nxd4 Nf4 14. Ne4 Qh4 15. Nf3 Nxh3+ 16. Kf1 Nxf3 17. Qxf3 Bg4 18. Qg3 Qxg3 19. fxg3 Rae8 20. Bd2 Kh8 21. Ng5 Nxg5 22. Bxg5 Be6 23. Re2 Bxb3 24. axb3 Rxe2 25. Kxe2 Re8+ 26. Kd3 f6 27. Bd2 Kg8 28. g4 Kf7 29. b4 Bb6 30. c4 c6 31. Rf1 d5 32. c5 Bc7 33. g5 Re4 34. gxf6 gxf6

[John McKenna]

In the interview I linked to, above, Anne Haast criticised Nisipeanu's 10.d4. However, that move seems only dubious. There was much worse to come... 15.Nf3? was the losing move. Instead 15.Bxf4 would have left the top-rated GM in the Challengers still able to play for a draw - having made a fruitless pawn sacrifice with 12.e5.

[Mick Norris]

challengers standings

Round 8 today (rest day tomorrow)

van Foreest, J. - Admiraal, M.
Bok, B. - Abasov, N.
Ju, W. - Sevian, S.
Haast, A. - Batsiashvili, N.
Antipov, M. - Nisipeanu, L.
Dreev, A. - Safarli, E.
l'Ami, E. - Baskaran, A.

[LawrenceCooper]

The outcome of Nisipeanu v Haast was somewhat unexpected on previous form

Nisipeanu played like Haast has been playing. She gave a brief interview in English -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65ofDqfBpMM

He deserves credit for analysing the game afterwards, I suspect that many players (probably myself included) wouldn't have relished the post mortem.

[John McKenna]

After today's miracle Ann should be a prime candidate for beatification.

[Barry Sandercock]

Very nice Knight manoeuvre at the end of the Anne Haast game.