In the most important and dramatic game of the penultimate round, Alireza Firouzja miraculously escaped to a draw against the leader Anish Giri and stayed in the race for first place. He is coming into the final round tied for the second position with Fabiano Caruana and Jorden Van Foreest a half-point behind the leader. Pentala Harikrishna scored his second victory in the event over Alexander Donchenko who made a fatal misstep in an equal position. All other games were drawn.

In the central game of the round, Anish Giri and Alireza Firouzja had a discussion in the French Defense. The teenager introduced a novelty on move 14, then sacrificed a pawn and eventually get a satisfactory position but 28…d3 turned out to be a serious mistake (28…f6 was much better). Anish reeled off several precise moves and was on the way to the victory not only in this game but most likely also in the tournament, but that is where miracles began. The Dutchman missed a few winning continuations and had to give up his bishop for Black’s e-pawn. White still had four pawns for a knight and won position but again the Dutchman did not demonstrate necessary accuracy and allowed Firouzja to save a half-point.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Magnus Carlsen played a very solid positional game in the Anti-Meran variation of the Slave Defense maintaining a balance to the very end.

Fabiano Caruana was full of determination to score a full point with White and even sacrificed a knight, but his opponent David Anton had no desire to cooperate. The Spaniard was confidently holding his ground and did not allow last year’s winner to make any progress. The opponents split a point on move 50 in an equal endgame.

Andrey Esipenko and Jorden Van Foreest played a very interesting game in the Modern Veresov in which a slight advantage moved from one opponent to another, but it all ended in a draw by perpetual on move 41.

The evaluation in the game between Pentala Harikrishna and Alexander Donchenko was hovering about equal for a very long time, but right after the time control, the German played a natural 42…Qf6? apparently missing crushing 43.c5! White’s heavy pieces pounced and the black king and Alexander resigned facing an inevitable checkmate.

Nils Grandelius and Arian Tari tested waters in a sharp line of the Italian. Black sacrificed a piece to expose the white king but probably did not get sufficient compensation. White consolidated his position and got better prospects but after Nils greedily grabbed a pawn 27.Qxb7 Black immediately forced a draw by repetition.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda outplayed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a roughly equal endgame that emerged from Petroff Defense, but went astray with 32…Nb8 (32…Rb5 was necessary) and let the opponent off the hook. The only thing the Pole managed to achieve in subsequent long play was stalemating the white king.

Standings after Round 11: 1. Anish Giri – 8; 2-4. Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, Jorden Van Foreest – 7½; 5. Andrey Esipenko – 7; 6. Magnus Carlsen – 6½; 7-8. Nils Grandelius, Pentala Harikrishna – 6; 9. Arian Tari – 5½; 10-11. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 5; 12-13. Radoslaw Wojtaszek, David Anton – 4½; 14. Alexander Donchenko – 3½.

Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

Official website: tatasteelchess.com/