Tata Steel 2016 - Video Recap - Round 11

Opening: C42: Petrov: Nimzovich attack

Player(s): Carlsen, Hou

GM Larry Christiansen recaps Round 11. The dramatic game Carlsen vs. Hou probably decided the tournament. The Chinese young lady played a great game, extremely balanced, driving the Norwegian chess genius into a drawn pawn ending. Carlsen tried hard, as he usually does, to win the equal ending, but Hou defended well, and it really looked they were going to agree on the draw pretty soon. But Yifan missed a little pawn move (a5) which would have totally frozen the game, with no way to win for the World Champion. This horrible mistake allowed Magnus to penetrate the enemy lines, and win the war in few moves. In Tomashevsky-Ding, the professor seemed to have an edge for most of the game, entering the complicated endgame a pawn up. But Ding fought back fiercely, and got back his pawn. At that point, with the game looking more or less equal, Tomashevsky blundered horribly with 53.Qe5?, immediately followed by ding's 53 ...Rb1! which wins a whole piece. Another game that deserves mention is the amazing draw played between Van Wely and Navara. Navara played a sharp game forcing Loek o the defensive. Van Wely castled a bit early to find himself in trouble, with navara attacking in force. Loek found a very ingenious solution to find initiative and counter-play , sacrificing his Queen, and playing the endgame with three minor pieces vs. Queen and Rook. Wit brilliant play, Van Wely was able to present Navara with several problems, until the Czech talent decided to settle down for a draw by repetition. A very hard-fought and entertaining game. With two rounds to go, Magnus is again solo with a full point of advantage over Caruana. Ding follows in clear third, half a point behind Fabiano. Giri, So and Eljanov share 4th-6th two points behind the leader. Tomorrow the penultimate round, with Carlsen playing black vs. So, Caruana white vs. Van Wely and Ding white vs. Eljanov.

Teacher's library (515) C42 Carlsen Hou recap