Tata Steel 2022 Round 9: Carlsen Takes the Sole Lead, Giri Close Second
Round 9 of the Tata Steel Chess Tournaments ended with Carlsen beating the co-leader of R8, Mamedyarov, and taking the sole lead. Giri also won his fourth game in a row and is just half a point behind the World Champion and 7-time Tata Steel Champion.
GM Magnus Carlsen has been sharing the lead of the tournament with Mamedyarov the past two rounds, with their game attracting all chess enthusiasts’ attention. Things didn’t go as planned for the Azerbaijani GM who gave an exchange but didn’t have enough compensation and ended up losing the game. With this win, Carlsen is one step closer to winning his eighth Tata Steel Tournament.
GM Anish Giri also won his fourth game in a row and didn’t let Carlsen slip away in the general standings. In his game against Shankland, Giri encountered no technical problems whatsoever, moving to a queen exchange very early in the game, and ending with a pawn up and a winning position.
A fascinating game was Rameshbabu against Karjakin, which ended in favour of the Russian GM. Pragg though had a winning opportunity in the Rook vs Knight ending.
Rapport vs Vidit was a slow-paced game with eleven moves after two hours and twenty minutes of play. Rapport was building the pressure with his extra pawns, but there was nothing he could do in the opposite coloured bishop ending, and the game ended in a draw.
Caruana vs Grandelius was a much faster game in terms of escalation, with Grandelius being happy and positive once more! The Swedish GM took so much risk while attacking Caruana’s king and lost the position to remain at the bottom with 2/9.
In the Duda-Esipenko game, there wasn’t such a cheerful vibe after their draw. Duda was disappointed because he failed to clinch the point, after Esipenko made a strategic error on move 17, while the Russian GM played below his standard.
Van Foreest and Dubov found themselves in a game taken out of their work as Carlsen’s seconds, and it easily ended in a draw.
Watch R10 with us: https://chessarena.com/broadcasts/11117
