Tata Steel 2022 - Round 12

• INFO
• ROUND 1
• ROUND 2
• ROUND 3
• ROUND 4
• RECAP R1-R4
• ROUND 5
• ROUND 6
• ROUND 7
• ROUND 8
• RECAP R5-R8
• ROUND 9
• ROUND 10
• RECAP R9-R10
• ROUND 11
• ROUND 12
• ROUND 13
• FINAL RECAP

With a fantastic game - and an exchange sacrifice! - Magnus Carlsen defeated Fabiano Caruana in round 12 to secure the final victory of his 8th Tata Steel Masters!


Photo credit Lennart Ootes tatasteelchess.com

Magnus played a splendid game, giving his "old foe" no chance.
Carlsen won't play the last round, as he is paired with Dubov, who, as we all know, had to leave the tournament.
In the post-game interview, Magnus said:

"I am very happy with the total result and today's as well. A draw was good for me, but I guess I felt a little bolder than usual. I wanted to play, and clearly, Fabi wanted to play too. It was a good fight. The exchange sac was screaming to be played. Then Fabi went for the wrong plan. It may seem paradoxical that I exchanged queens being an exchange down, but my bishops were simply too strong."

Magnus will finish the tournament with 9.5/13, one of the best results ever.
Yet, despite winning five games (we won't count the "win" vs. Dubov in the last round), he gained only 3.1 points in the live rating list!


https://2700chess.com/

It'll be hard to reach the mythical 2900 barrier. Magnus would need more players with ratings over 2800. And that's not easy.
Anyway, congratulations to the Champ for another fantastic win!

Mamedyarov today defeated Vidit. 


Photo credit Lennart Ootes tatasteelchess.com

The strong Indian GM misread a position and blundered irremediably.
In the diagram below, Vidit had just played Qg4??, failing to see the simple and winning f5, which Mamedyarov played almost immediately. Vidit tried to resist a piece down but resigned a few moves later.

Shankland won his first game today against the super-strong Russian GM Sergey Karjakin. 


Photo credit Lennart Ootes tatasteelchess.com

In the interview, Sam was very satisfied with his opening, although he defined his tournament as "frustrating."

Esipenko, Rapport, Giri, Grandelius, Duda and Van Foreest drew.

Tomorrow LAST round at 6 AM EST, 12:00 local  (CET).