Tata Steel Masters 2017 - Round 6

Magnus and Levon today played a liquidation game, quite uneventful.

It was natural to think that today the tournament leader Wesley So would have had a good opportunity to win another game, and consolidate his leadership, facing the lowest rated player of the event, GM Adhiban. But things didn't go exactly as Wesley had probably planned and after a questionable opening choice So found himself down a pawn without much compensation. Adhiban missed a couple of chances to get a larger advantage; So forced Adhiban into a quick liquidation and they agreed on the draw.

Rapport's creative style of play is not paying off in the event. But today he was up for some crazy play against Wei Yi, another player that can be very original. Wei Yi showed no fear and got into a highly tactical position, charging like a bull, even when it seemed - according to the chess engine - that is violent moves were not totally sound. Rapport unleashed an insane attack, but probably he saw something that wasn't there, and when - after the fireworks - the smoke thinned, he was totally lost. a wild game.

Andreikin-Van Wely was the longest game of the round. They got into an interesting endgame, that was a theoretical win for Andreikin. But the strong Russian GM didn't manage to find the right sequence and gifted the Dutch veteran GM with half a point.

After 6 rounds, Wesley So still leads with 4.5 points, followed by Carlsen and Eljanov with 4 points. Then Aronian, Giri and Wei Yi with 3.5. Giri today won his first game of this event.

Tomorrow Round 7 at 7:30 am EST - 13:30 CET.

Pairings:

Karjakin, S. - Aronian, L.
So, W. - Eljanov, P.
Wojtaszek, R. - Adhiban, B.
Andreikin, D. - Harikrishna, P.
Wei, Y. - Van Wely, L.
Nepomniachtchi, I. - Rapport, R.
Carlsen, M. - Giri, A.

Here is GM Joel Benjamin's video recap.