Three well-known names collected full points in round 6 of the Tata Steel Masters tournament, as Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin and Anish Giri all won their Friday games in Wijk aan Zee. Carlsen’s victory over Richard Rapport allowed him to catch the leaders in the standings table. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, Arjun Erigaisi continues to dominate as he scored his fifth win in a row! | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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A clear winner
Much like in the first round, all five games finished drawn in the ninth and final round of the Superbet Chess Classic. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who entered the last day of action a full point ahead of his closest pursuers, drew Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to secure first place in the capital of Romania. Three players scored 5 out of 9 points to finish in shared second place i.e. Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk and Wesley So.
This was Mamedyarov’s first classical, over-the-board tournament since his participation at the 2020 German Bundesliga in September, when he scored 3/4 points on top board for second-placed SC Viernheim he defeated Laurent Fressinet and Gata Kamsky in Karslruhe. Before that, he had withdrawn from the Gibraltar Masters in January due to illness. His latest major tournament victory was achieved in July 2019, when he won the Riga Grand Prix after beating none other than Vachier-Lagrave in Armageddon.
€199.90
Fighting chess all around
The Isle of Man tournament, which by now has become a fixture in the chess calendar, celebrated its first edition back in 2014. With its venue at the Villa Marina on Douglas’ seafront, the first two editions were sponsored by PokerStars, with a number of activities involving original combinations of chess and poker taking place as side events.
Nigel Short was the clear winner that year, as he prevailed in a field that included three 2700+ rated players. Given the success of the inaugural tournament, the second edition attracted a stronger lineup, with Michael Adams, Penatala Harikrishna and David Howell arriving at the island as the top seeds.
€189.90
Viktor Moskalenko defuses (White) set-ups without d2-d4
After
we reach the starting position of our survey. Black has made the classical Dutch Stonewall moves, while White hasn t committed himself yet as to his d- and b-pawn. Here I would like to share my experience against the plans with
6.d3 (English style) or
6.b3 (Réti style), i.e. without d2-d4. These may sometimes transpose. Since White s play is initially more obvious, I had to look for new ideas for Black. So in practice I have achieved very good results from this position (see database!), mainly due to a good understanding of the plans for both sides. Therefore, I would recommend you to trace the evolution of the development of different options.