Wijk aan Zee 2021

[Mick Norris]

Caruana holds to join Van Foreest on 7.5/12; Giri looks like he's heading for 8.5

Van Foreest is white v Grandelius tomorrow; Caruana black v Tari; Giri black v Anton

[JustinHorton]

Giri looks like he's heading for 8.5

If he gets there I'd guess he's almost certainly the tournament winner - he'll be a point clear and playing Antón in the last round. But he has to win rook and four pawns against rook and knight first...

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Interesting position at move 61, apparently 61.Ka4 is the only way for Giri to keep a winning advantage (I think because the a-pawn was pushed too fast too soon). [EDIT: And Giri played 61.g4 and in theory this should now be drawn if Firouzja can find the seemingly easy plan of put the knight on c7, snaffle the a-pawn with the rook, run the rook round behind the kingside pawns, sacrifice the knight for one of them, take the other one with the rook, and then draw against the lone b-pawn with his king.]

In the Harikrishna-Donchenko game, Donchenko needed to go pawn grabbing with his queen (41.Qxc3 Rg8 42.Qxc4, but am not surprised he was unable to tell if he was being mated or not after 43.Qg5+ in that line - he wasn't, but could you tell?). He actually played 42.Qf6 and lost.

[Mick Norris]

Yes, maybe Giri heading for 8 and a very interesting last round tomorrow

[JustinHorton]

....which kicks off two hours earlier, people might want to remember.

What a great tournament Wijk aan Zee always is.

[Mick Norris]

Yes, Firouzja on 7.5 playing white v Wojtaszek in the mix too

[JustinHorton]

I'm seeing Firouzja beating Giri in a blitz play-off

[Mick Norris]

Starting in less than 10 minutes

Should be an interesting day

[Matthew Turner]

A prediction - lots of White wins today

[Matthew Turner]

Van Foreest - Grandelius
What on earth is that all about?

[JustinHorton]

There are four players yet to win in the tournament and three yet to lose.

[Chris Rice]

Van Foreest - Grandelius
What on earth is that all about?

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Qd3 Nbd7 7. Be2 b5 8. a4 Nc5 9. Qe3 b4 10. Nd5 Ncxe4 11. a5 *

8...Nc5 seems to be a TN to improve on 8...b4 9 Nd5 Bb7 10 Nxf6+ etc which has been played twice in 2018 and once in 2020. However, you wonder why an improvement was even necessary when those three games were all Black wins!

[JustinHorton]

Van Foreest - Grandelius
What on earth is that all about?

This is arguably stranger

[Chris Rice]

Van Foreest - Grandelius
What on earth is that all about?

This is arguably stranger

Remarkably 4...Nf6 appears to be a TN!

[JustinHorton]

Admirers of the French Exchange will be pleased to see it make an appearance