Magnus Carlsen beat Fabiano Caruana to claim his eighth tournament title in Wijk aan Zee with a round to spare. The world champion will not even need to show up for Sunday’s final round, as the organizers of the tournament confirmed that Daniil Dubov will not be playing despite testing negative to a second Covid-19 PCR test. Meanwhile, Arjun Erigaisi clinched the title in the Challengers, thus getting an invitation to next year’s main event. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit
Anish Giri is all but out of contention for first place at the Tata Steel Masters tournament, as he was defeated by Jorden van Foreest in Friday’s eleventh round. Magnus Carlsen signed a draw against Vidit Gujrathi and has a half-point lead over Richard Rapport going into the final weekend of the event. Moreover, Carlsen will get a free point in the last round, when he was supposed to face Daniil Dubov, who had to leave the tournament after testing positive for Covid-19. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit
In a crucial confrontation, Magnus Carlsen beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to reclaim the sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters tournament. The one player keeping up the pace with the world champion is Anish Giri, who got the better of Sam Shankland to remain a half point behind the Norwegian. Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana also won in round 9. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
An eventful seventh round in Wijk aan Zee saw Daniil Dubov forfeiting his game against Anish Giri after declining to wear a mask during the game as requested by the organizers someone in the Russian’s inner circle had tested positive for Covid-19. Later on, wins by Magnus Carlsen, Jorden van Foreest and Fabiano Caruana left the world champion in the sole lead. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit
Vidit Gujrathi kept the sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters going into the first rest day of the event, as round 4 saw 2 out of 7 games ending decisively. Praggnanandhaa inflicted Nils Grandelius’ third defeat to bounce back to a 50% score, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov got the better of Jan-Krzysztof Duda with the white pieces. | Photo: Lennart Ootes