First Games of Tata Steel Masters Played in Wijk aan Zee

Carlsen, Giri and Grandelius won.

The Tata Steel Masters started in Wijk aan Zee.  

The world champion Magnus Carlsen, who had White against Alireza Firouzja, was acting rather risky by sacrificing a pawn firstly, then the second one, and then the exchange for the attack. However, Black made a mistake shortly before the time control and didn't manage to defend himself against White's mating threats. Carlsen secured the victory on the 40th move.   

Aryan Tari sacrificed a piece for two pawns to Anish Giri, but his opponent was defending precisely and stabilised the situation first and then mounted a counterattack. Finally, Giri cut into the opponent's rear and won. Nils Grandelius converted an extra pawn in the rook endgame against Alexander Donchenko. The games Esipenko - Duda, Harikrishna - Vachier-Lagrave, Wojtaszek - Anton, and Caruana - Van Foreest were drawn.

 

Standings after Round 1:

1-3. Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Nils Grandelius - 1
4-11. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, David Anton, Jorden Van Foreest, Fabiano Caruana, Pentala Harikrishna, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Andrey Esipenko - 0.5
12-14. Alireza Firouzja, Alexander Donchenko, Aryan Tari - 0.

Round 2 pairings:

Vachier-Lagrave - Firuozja, Anton - Carlsen, Tari - Wojtaszek, Van Foreest - Giri, Donchenko - Caruana, Duda - Grandelius, Harikrishna - Esipenko.

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