Tata Steel 2024 R7: Vidit Gujrathi's king walk topples Firouzja, Gukesh scores a hat-trick to join the lead
Vidit Gujrathi scored his first win at 86th Tata Steel Masters 2024 against Alireza Firouzja (FRA). After six draws, Vidit seized his opportunity by doing a king walk, something he has done twice before at Wijk aan Zee. D Gukesh scored his third consecutive win. He completed his hat-trick by winning against Max Warmerdam (NED). Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) defeated Anish Giri (NED) to join him and Gukesh in a three-way lead 4.5/7. R Praggnanandhaa drew against Jorden van Foreest (NED). Vidit and Praggnananadhaa are at 4/7 each. IM Divya Deshmukh registered a victory against GM Liam Vrolijk (NED). Leon Luke Mendonca bounced back by scoring a full point against IM Stefan Beukema (BEL). Harika Dronavalli drew against Anton Korobov (UKR). Overall, it was a great for Indians as there were four wins and two draws. Round 8 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024
A great day for Indians
"Yeah, I am quite happy with the game. He was very well-prepared. I had no idea about the line. I had to grind out this endgame. He made a few inaccuracies. It's always very nice to win a long game." - Gukesh on his win against Max Warmerdam (NED).
Vidit - Firouzja: 1-0
Vidit Gujrathi (2742) mentioned after his sixth round game that he has a good score Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2759). He is yet to lose a Classical rated game against the world no.6 and that statistic remained intact.
Vidit mentioned in the post-game interview that he did not see 12...Nxc2. "I was in fact semi-lucky that I had 14.Nd2. If I had seen it, probably I would have gone for 12.Bg5 provoking Be7 then 13.a3 so this (Nxc2) sacrifice doesn't work. It was like complete surprise when he took on c2. I, of course, kept my poker face and took back instantly but after 13...Qc6 I started to think. If I don't have 14.Nd2, I might very well be worse but after Nd2, I was unsure. I was unsure why even he was thinking. He could have played 14...d5 and it would have been a chaos. He thought for like 35-40 minutes and that gave me a lot of hope. Once I got my king to e2, I for sure knew that I was winning, but it took longer than expected." - Vidit added.
Vidit walked his king from c1 to e1 via c2, d3 and e2. The king found its safe haven there.
Vidit tweeted on his King walks at Tata Steel tournaments
Gukesh - Warmerdam: 1-0
D Gukesh (2725) grinded an equal rook endgame against Max Warmerdam (NED, 2625).
Here Black needed to play 53...Kf6 to continue the fight. 53...Rg1?? dropped the g4-pawn after 54.Kf2 Rb1 55.Kg3 Rb2 56.Rg5 and it's over for Black.
Abdusattorov - Giri: 1-0
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 2727) eliminated Anish Giri (NED, 2749) at FIDE World Cup 2021. He had defeated the tournament leader in both Rapid and Blitz rated games. However, one thing he had left to do was win in a Classical rated game. Finally he managed to accomplish it.
Black's position was already in shambles. 34.c4 is a beautiful way to increase his advantage.
Divya - Vrolijk
Despite the rook ending being equal, practically it was not so easy to defend for Black. GM Liam Vrolijk (NED, 2573) misplayed against IM Divya Deshmukh (2420). 37...Kf7 is what Black needed to play 38.Rxa6 Ke6. Instead, he went 37...Rb6 38.Rc4 Rb8 39.Kd3 Kf7 40.Rb4 Rc8 41.Rb6 Ke6 42.Rxa6 Rc7? is the final mistake 43.Ke4 and White went on to convert her decisive advantage into a win.
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Schedule
Starting from Saturday 13th to 27th January, all round starts at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Only Sunday 28th January, the final round will start at 12 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Rest days are same for both Masters and Challengers section - 17th, 22nd and 25th January 2024.
Time Control
100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds increment for each move starting from the first move.
