2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 13: Carlsen Draws, Wins the Tournament
There wasn't much drama today in the final round of the 2019 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, either in the Masters Group or even in the Challengers event. There could have been. Anish Giri had the white pieces against Magnus Carlsen, and with a win he'd have vaulted Carlsen and taken clear first. And in the Challengers event Vladislav Kovalev was only half a point ahead of Maksim Chigaev and Andrey Esipenko. But there were no fantastic finishes. Carlsen drew with complete ease, and the question early on was only if he might win or at least try to win the game. And it was even worse in the Challengers event: Kovalev won in 24 moves when his opponent blundered into a mating attack, and for good measure both Chigaev and Esipenko lost their games. So Carlsen won the main event, Kovalev the Challengers, and the latter will be promoted to the Masters event next year.
As for the rest of the Masters games: Richard Rapport blitzed Jorden Van Foreest off the board in just 21 moves, mostly due, I'd say, to the latter's poor preparation for the line that came up. (His novelty on move 12 - undoubtedly not the result of prior preparation, landed him in a lost position.) The other win took longer: Vladimir Kramnik once again went into self-destruct mode, avoiding a simple draw for a more complex position where only Sam Shankland could play for a win. Shankland took his chance and gave the former world champion his sixth defeat of the tournament. The remaining games were drawn between 19 and 35 moves. (The games, with my notes to Giri-Carlsen, the two decisive games, and Kovalev's last-round win are here.)
Here are the final standings:
- 1. Carlsen 9 (out of 13)
- 2. Giri 8.5
- 3-5. Nepomniachtchi, Ding, Anand 7.5
- 6. Vidit 7
- 7-9. Radjabov, Shankland, Rapport 6.5
- 10. Duda 5.5
- 11-12. Fedoseev, Mamedyarov 5
- 13-14. Kramnik, Van Foreest 4.5
And just for fun, the final standings of the Challengers group:
- 1. Kovalev 10 (of 13)
- 2-4. Gledura, Esipenko, Chigaev 8.5
- 5-6. Korobov, L'Ami 7.5
- 7-8. Maghsoodloo, Bareev 7
- 9. (Lucas) Van Foreest 6
- 10. Keymer 5.5
- 11. Praggnanandhaa 5
- 12-13. Saduakassova, Paehtz 3.5
- 14. Kuipers 3