Magnus Carlsen clinched his eighth title in Wijk aan Zee after beating Fabiano Caruana in Round 12 of Tata Steel Masters 2022. The World Champion, who will get a win by forfeit in the final round, is a full point ahead of his closest competitors, Richard Rapport and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Sam Shankland scored his first victory in the event after defeating Sergey Karjakin in an interesting theoretical battle.
Fabiano Caruana got some space advantage on the white side of Rossolimo Variation of the Sicilian Defence against Magnus Carlsen, but the World Champion had some counterplay on the light squares. After Magnus penetrated with his queen to e2 with the idea of transferring his most powerful piece to g4 in a roughly equal position, Fabiano reacted with a natural but wrong 26.f3? This mistake allowed Carlsen to sacrifice an exchange for excellent positional compensation. Four moves down the road, Caruana made the final error with 30.Bc3? trading queens but giving up his e5-pawn. The final portion of the game turned into a vivid display of Magnus’ endgame technique. Slowly but surely, Black stretched White’s defence with two passers and won on move 49th.
Andrey Esipenko obtained a long-lasting advantage over Richard Rapport in the Ruy Lopez with a very precise play, but the Hungarian demonstrated patience and tactical resourcefulness to save a half-point.
Vidit Gujrathi achieved a very promising position in the Italian against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, with virtually all his pieces eyeing Black’s king. Even after missing a couple of very strong continuations, the Indian GM still had better chances, but then the unthinkable happened – Vidit committed a terrible blunder 26.Qg4?? that cost him a piece. The rest of the game was a walk in the park for Mamedyarov, who wrapped it up before the time control.
Jan-Krzysztof Duda did not get much on the white side of Moscow Variation of Slav Defence against Jorden Van Foreest. After turning down a few drawing continuations, the Polish GM had to play with accuracy to score a half-point.
Anish Giri outmanoeuvred Nils Grandelius in the Gruenfeld Defense as White but failed to find the best continuation 24.Rda1 and opted for 24.Qc6? The Swedish GM replied correctly, and after another substandard move by Anish, the evaluation of the position immediately changed in Black’s favour. Somewhat surprisingly, at this very moment, a draw was agreed.
Sam Shankland demonstrated an excellent opening preparation against Sergey Karjaking in one of the lines of the Nimtzo-Indian with 4.f3 that supposedly does not promise White much. Apparently, 17…Qb7 was a serious mistake, although in order to prove it, Sam had to play with great precision. Most likely, Sergey underestimated the power of 21.Qc7! that gave White a sizable advantage which Shankland turned into a full point just five moves down the road.
Standings after Round 12: 1. Маgnus Carlsen – 8½; 2-3. Richard Rapport and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – 7½; 4. Anish Giri – 7; 5. Andrey Esipenko – 6½; 6-9. Vidit Gujrathi, Sergey Karjakin, Fabiano Caruana and Jorden Van Foreest – 6; 10-11. Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Sam Shankland – 5½; 12. Praggnanandhaa R. – 4½; 13. Nils Grandelius – 4; Daniil Dubov – 3½.
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Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022
