GM Parham Maghsoodloo was the sole winner in round 11 of the 2023 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov continues to reign in clear first, drawing confidently with black against his closest competitor, GM Anish Giri. GM Magnus Carlsen pressed but ultimately drew against GM Wesley So, maintaining their tie for third.
In the Challengers group, GM Alexander Donchenko won to steal back the sole lead. His closest rival, GM Mustafa Yilmaz, is in clear second by half a point. GM Javokhir Sindarov is currently in third with seven points. These three competitors have separated themselves from the rest of the field by a full point or more.
Twitch channel and catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive. The games can also be followed from our Events Page.
A stark contrast between a round-robin and a Swiss system tournament is: In the Swiss system, we see the players at the top of the scoreboard matched up round after round until they’re narrowed down to a sole victor. In a round-robin, the top players may dance around each other on the standings for a long time before meeting.
This is what made round 11 one of the most anticipated of the event. We got to see the leaders face off: Giri vs. Abdusattorov―competing for the top two spots―and Carlsen vs. So―trying to break the tie for third.
Would Giri utilize the white pieces to directly overtake the leader?
Would Abdusattorov cement his edge by holding off his closest rival with black?
Would Carlsen or So join in the chase for top honors and knock the other out of contention with a decisive result?
Two previous Wijk aan Zee champions, four-time winner GM Levon Aronian and 2020 champion GM Fabiano Caruana, were also matched up this round. Caruana played an opening he doesn’t often employ, the Tarrasch Defense, leading to an IQP position. Aronian traded away his kingside fianchettoed bishop to win his opponent’s d4-pawn, leading to a rook and minor piece ending where Caruana soon won the pawn back and a draw as the first game to finish.
In the matchup between the top two, Abdusattorov surprised Giri in the opening, challenging his decade-older opponent in an ultra-sharp variation in the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Commentator Hess described the significance of the tournament leader’s choice:
“It’s a huge moment. These types of positions are super sharp. You see Anish, he looks flustered. He knows that he’s been caught, and he’s not hiding it.
Before the game, we were wondering: Anish Giri, being the preparation wizard that he is and Nodirbek being young, it might be a struggle for him. But he is saying: I am taking it to my opponent. I’m not going to just sit there with the black pieces and be scared. No, he is playing a very sharp variation.”
He is saying: I am taking it to my opponent. I’m not going to just sit there with the black pieces and be scared.
-Robert Hess on Abdusattorov
The Uzbek Warrior 💪🏼 #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/IgSAE3REMS
— PhotoChess (@photochess) January 26, 2023
Giri responded cautiously, opting to trade queens into an ending with a better pawn structure, due to Black’s isolated e6-pawn. However, Abdusattorov tended to his one weakness, and after all the rooks were traded off, Giri was unable to make progress.
After the game, Giri revealed that he mixed up his opening preparation: “I tried my new strategy, which is to prepare one thing and play another. It’s actually worked well for me in the tournament so far, but today it didn’t. Unfortunately, I think I confused two variations with each other.”
Giri’s chances to catch Abdusattorov now rest, to some degree, on So and GM Jorden van Foreest, the Uzbek grandmaster’s opponents in the last two rounds.
In his own game today, Van Foreest played the bold novelty 10…dxc4 against GM Ding Liren, tempting the world number two to pick up the b7-pawn with his queen and then venture to c7 with his knight with check, disrupting the Black king. Van Foreest’s idea was, in the wild resulting position, the adventurous white queen and knight have to be very careful to avoid being overpowered by the surrounding Black pieces. Ding was up to the challenge. He calculated accurately to emerge from the complications into an equal ending.