Red and White Chess: Magnus Carlsen Wins 2015 Tata Steel Chess

In the coming of 2015 Tata Steel Chess final round 13, the pre-games analysis shown that there will be enough players that could win the cup, only if Magnus Carlsen lost the final games. The chances are quite slim because the pairing indicated that Carlsen are to play lowest rated opponent Ivan Saric with white piece. But after the opening rolled quite a bit, there is indeed a hope and thus produced one of most dramatic final round moment. The story as follows:

(lihat bahasa Indonesia di bawah)

the calm before the storm, Tata Steel Chess 2015 round 13

only Levon Aronian vs Ding Liren game looks something not right.

Wijk aan Zee 2015

Wojtaszek, Radoslaw vs Giri, Anish 1/2-1/2
The first games to finish. With all hope that Giri will able to catch Magnus Carlsen, his round 13 opponent Radoslaw "Radek" Wojtaszek played the better game. Giri can only fight for a draw and there is it the result, a split point. Although some fans are upset that Radek didn't push, we must thanks him to allowing Giri enter the "tie breaker" for his point is now 8.5/13, an equal to Carlsen if he lost. The game:

Hou, Yifan vs Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2-1/2
Hou Yifan shows that she is not merely a Judit Polgar reincarnation of the 2010's century, but also somebody who able to take the girls' pride going even higher. But in round 13, she is in no concern to push too much for Ivanchuk, the game drawn pretty easy.

Caruana, Fabiano vs Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 0-1
Then out of nowhere, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave checkmated Caruana in a Sicilian Najdorf game. Caruana having quite a mediocre tournament, but again, he paid back to fans by allowing Maxime to emerge as unexpected "tie breaker" of the 2015 Tata Steel Chess.

So, Wesley vs Van Wely, Loek 1-0
Wesley So is having a serious tournament by seriously tailing Magnus Carlsen, only when his nemesis Anish Giri destroyed his hope. Anish Giri is also the one who put a nightmare to Wesley So in previous Tata Steel (Corus Chess) in group B year 2010. Not only that, Wesley So's 50 unbeaten games streak is also stopped to restart. Alas, Wesley got into better position in a Benoni System put by Van Wely in this final round. The result was heavily predicted by fans around the world, Wesley So easily crushed Loek van Wely, thus making three persons lining up to shadow Magnus Carlsen's game vs Ivan Saric. See this full of pins game, Wesley So vs Loek van Wely.

Aronian, Levon vs Ding, Liren 1-0
Levon Aronian played equally bad in this tournament, where as Ding Liren is having his fun time here. Equally bad as Fabiano Caruana's mate blunder, Levon Aronian's 16.g5 is going to be remembered as "mouse slip" move, as noted by many twitters and commentators. In fact, this game is the very first one to show a decisive result, if not for a drama that Levon found a way to entertains Ding Liren and fans by playing all the way, the minus 4 evaluation position, to the time control. Levon only resigned when Ding Liren landed a second queen on board. Now, four players with 8.5, waiting his fate for Carlsen to ever lost his games. In this point of moment, Carlsen is already out of trouble.
Carlsen, Magnus vs Saric, Ivan 1/2-1/2
The background fact is, Ivan Saric was once defeated Carlsen, in the Olympiad year ago. Although the pairing of 200 elo rating differences looks too easy for Carlsen-with-white, the struggle did exist. Out of opening, suddenly Ivan Saric hit the better place for his queen and pawn structure. Allowing him to relax played his strategy on either attack on the king side or create another problem on a-file. Ivan Saric playing engine's first move by move, and raising potential to ever composed the greatest drama of the tournament by beating the number one player in standing. If this result ever happen, there will be a five player in tie break of 8.5 points, and most likely, some analysis shown, it will be Maxime to emerge as victory. Then the truth begin to speak, Magnus Carlsen played resilient while Ivan Saric seemingly lost focus. The game thus ended in a draw and Magnus Carlsen once again win the tournament he expected to win.

Jobava, Baadur vs Radjabov, Teimour 1-0
But oh wait, there is one more drama in the very end. Jobava Baadur, despite all the crazyness he delivered in this tournament, is fighting his way in the hope to at least match Jan Timman's result for respected 3.0 out of 13. He did get it, with extremely fun games against Teimour Radjabov. The later missed a nice tactic on move 20..Nxf3+ sacrifice. Jobava get his last victory. The final trivia is, the online broadcast once shown a draw result for this games, indeed Jobava score 1-0.

Final 2015 Tata Steel Chess Standing:

01. Carlsen, Magnus 9
02. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 8½
03. Giri, Anish 8½
04. So, Wesley 8½
05. Ding, Liren 8½
06. Ivanchuk, Vasil 7½
07. Caruana, Fabiano 7
08. Radjabov, Teimour 6
09. Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 5½
10. Aronian, Levon 5½
11. Hou, Yifan 5
12. Saric, Ivan 4½
13. Van Wely, Loek 4
14. Jobava, Baadur 3

CHALLENGER GROUPS:
Wei Yi is securing the first place with amazing 10.5/13. David Navara is the runner up with also amazing 10/13, how about Carlsen's 9/13 you ask. The final standing of Challenger groups:

01. Wei, Yi 10½
02. Navara, David 10
03. Shankland, Sam 9
04. Van Kampen, Robin 8½
05. Saleh, Salem 7½
06. Sevian, Samuel 7½
07. Potkin, Vladimir 7/13
08. l' Ami, Erwin 6½
09. Gunina, Valentina 5
10. Klein, David 4½
11. Michiels, Bart 4½
12. Haast, Anne 4
13. Dale, Ari 3½
14. Timman, Jan 3

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Turnament bergengsi Tata Steel Chess 2015 akhirnya dimenangkan oleh Magnus Carlsen. Juara 1 diraih Magnus Carlsen melalui ronde 13 yang sangat dramatis. Di mana di ronde ini, satu per satu saingan Carlsen ternyata menang di babak terakhir ini dan berbaris menunggu hasil partai Carlsen vs Ivan Saric. Ada empat pecatur yang akhirnya memperoleh nilai 8.5 di ronde terakhir ini yaitu : Maxime Vachier-Lagrave dari Prancis, Wesley So dari USA, Anish Giri dari Belanda dan Ding Liren dari China. Sementara itu point Magnus Carlsen juga adalah 8.5, berarti dia harus minimal remis melawan lawan terakhirnya. Ternyata walaupun di atas kertas lawan terakhir Magnus Carlsen yaitu Ivan Saric ratingnya sekitar 200 point di bawah, namun di partai ini Carlsen cukup kewalahan. Seusai babak pembukaan, partai ini melihat justru Ivan Saric berhasil mendaratkan Menterinya di jantung pertahanan Magnus Carlsen. Melalui manuver-manuver, Ivan Saric berhasil menciptakan problem cukup menjanjikan di sayap Menteri, di mana ketiga buah besarnya, benteng dan menteri siap mendobrak melalui files a dan b. Namun bisa dibilang teknik Carlsen masih cukup kuat dan dengan pertahanan yang benar, Ivan Saric yang akhirnya justru kehabisan akal dalam menyerang. Alhasil, Carlsen berhasil mendobrak bidang sentral dan memaksa permainan menjadi draw.

Hasil ini membuat Carlsen memperoleh nilai cukup 9 dari 13 ronde untuk menjadi juara satu-satu nya turnamen catur bergengsi di Belanda ini. Di bagian Challenger, pecatur belia Wei Yi memantapkan posisinya sebagai pecatur berpotensial serius dengan memenangkan section Challenger ini dengan nilai luar biasa, 10.5 dari 13 babak. Hanya pecatur dari Ceko, David Navara yang paling dekat dengan nilai 10. Sementara itu dua wakil dari USA, Samuel Sevian (pecatur bergelar Grandmaster termuda di dunia saat ini) dan Sam Shankland juga memetik hasil bagus. Pecatur gaek Jan Timman harus puas sebagai juru kunci.

SEE ROUND 6 STORY dalam Bahasa Indonesia