2015-01-27

Tata Steel 2015: winners



Review games from Tata Steel 2015 with computer analysis: MASTERS | CHALLENGERS

Official website



Photo by Alina L'Ami: Official website

The winner of the 77th edition of Tata Steel Chess Tournament was World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen with a half-point lead. Congratulations!

Carlsen: The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an interesting tournament. You get to play lots of different players and it makes for lots of excitement. This year's edition is a bit of a flashback to 2010 for me, because I have won, but I'm not very happy with the way I have played.

Very strong performance among the Challengers as well. Wei Yi won the victory with 10.5/13 points. This means he has earned a spot in the Tata Steel Masters during the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2016.

The 78th Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place from 15th till 31st January 2016 in Wijk aan Zee.

Results: Masters

#NamePtsSB
1Carlsen, Magnus953.5
2Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime8.554.25
Giri, Anish8.551
So, Wesley8.549
Ding, Liren8.546
6Ivanchuk, Vassily7.545
7Caruana, Fabiano740.25
8Radjabov, Teimour6.538.5
9Wojtaszek, Radoslaw5.539.75
Aronian, Levon5.531
11Hou, Yifan529.25
12Saric, Ivan4.523.5
13Van Wely, Loek421.5
14Jobava, Baadur2.515

Results: Challengers

#NamePtsSB
1Wei, Yi10.561.25
2Navara, David1058.25
3Shankland, Samuel L955
4Van Kampen, Robin8.545.25
5Salem, A.R. Saleh7.543
Sevian, Samuel7.541.75
7Potkin, Vladimir737
8L'Ami, Erwin6.537.75
9Gunina, Valentina530.5
10Michiels, Bart4.522.5
Klein, David4.522.25
12Haast, Anne419
13Dale, Ari3.523.75
14Timman, Jan H315.75

Commentary on selected games

Round 12: Giri - So
Commentary by GM Alexander Delchev
So is having an almost perfect tournament so far, and I hope for a big clash today. His first move 1. c4 is an invitation to English opening, which So refused with 1... e6. The same he did against Carlsen in round 1 when the game later transposed to Nimzo-Indian defence ... See more 

Round 8: Jobava - Carlsen
Commentary by IM Tihomir Yanev
Today I comment the game between Baadur Jobava and the World Champion Magnus Carlsen, two of the most entertaining players at Tata Steel (both have 3 draws combined). The Georgian grandmaster has been faithful to his aggressive and creative style thus far, so I expect plenty of action today. Probably you do remember this game back in 2010?... See more

Round 6: Caruana - Carlsen
Commentary by GM Alexander Delchev
Game of the tournament! The World Champion meets his most advanced rival and Top 2 in the rating list Caruana, who is most probably one of the next contenders for the chess crown. Both players are in the group with +1 and it depends on this game who will challenge the sole leader Ivanchuk on +3. Carlsen is in a series of two consecutive wins, while Caruana lost yesterday against Wojtasek... See more


Round 4: Ivanchuk - Vachier-Lagrave
Commentary by GM Alexander Delchev
Today in round 4 we have two games in which the tournament leaders with score +2 Ivanchuk and Caruana are meeting the challengers with +1 Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley So. I chose to comment the game between Ivanchuk and Vachier, as I think Ivanchuk is showing interesting chess and this game will be the most exciting of today's games. In Ivanchuk's game yesterday against Van Wely, a white storm was trolling over the board. In Sicilian defence he as white chose the rare system with f4 and Qe2. Soon black lost control and Ivanchuk scored a nice victory with an amazing domination of white pieces over the whole board. Hope we enjoy another great performance of him today!?... See more


Round 3: Giri - Caruana
Commentary by GM Alexander Delchev
Giri had to play Carlsen, Aronian and Caruana in the first 3 rounds - quite a tough start. While against Carlsen he didn't get advantage and soon a draw was agreed, his game yesterday was quite hard - he managed to save the endgame with different colour bishop being two pawns down. I believe today his game against TOP 2 Caruana will be the most important and eventful game of the day... See more


Round 2: Carlsen - So
Commentary by GM Alexander Delchev
Today Carlsen will face another young star - the winner of the First Millionaire tournament who recently entered in TOP 10 - Wesley So, originally from Philipines. In his first round game of So against Wojtaczek, on the 57 move in a very sharp position both players blundered and So missed his chance to win. Actually, it is the first game between So and Carlsen, so lets see what approach Magnus will choose ... See more


Round 1: Giri - Carlsen
Commentary by GM Alexander Delchev
After a monstrous performance in Qatar (7 wins, 6 of which in a row ) and a solid + 1 in London, Giri moved to #7 in Top January List. He is fighting for first place here and his age of 20 is giving him slight advantage in this 13 round event. In the first round he catches Carlsen with white and it can be the perfect start for Anish. As I remember, in 2013 Giri prevailed against Carlsen in the last round, so naturally Magnus will be eager to take revenge. Anyway, the score between them is about equal in Classic... See more