Firouzja Moves To 2/2 In Tata Steel Chess Masters

After scoring 7/7 in Rouen to secure qualification for the upcoming Candidates tournament, GM Alireza Firouzja has continued his winning ways in Wijk aan Zee. The French-Iranian grandmaster on Sunday defeated GM Parham Maghsoodloo and is the only player with a perfect score in the 2024 Tata Steel Chess Tournament's Masters. 

In the Challengers, there is a five-way tie for first place after wins by GM Anton Korobov and IM  Stefan Beukema.

Results - Masters Round 2

Standings - Masters Round 2

Whereas this author on Saturday suggested that the excitement around the Wijk aan Zee tournament was as high as ever even without the participation of world number-one GM Magnus Carlsen, I now have to correct myself. On the first Sunday, we didn't get to see the crazy numbers of visitors from one year ago in the playing hall. They were also related to the chess boom at the time, but likely, Carlsen's absence plays a role now too. I would even describe the atmosphere at round two as fairly quiet.

This was definitely not related to a new anti-pollution protest that took place on Sunday, this time in the center of the village. Few noticed it, as there was only a handful of people protesting and when I decided to have a look, they were under the roof of the bus stop alongside the church, hiding from the rain. 

Meanwhile, the organizers shared a message from the world number-one on the platform X, which they had also shown during the opening ceremony. It put smiles on the faces of most grandmasters:

A regular is missing in the Masters this year. However, he did have something to say to the players of this year #TataSteelChess Tournament. pic.twitter.com/eJWB7x694D

— Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess) January 14, 2024

Images on social media revealed that Carlsen is in sunny Spain at the moment, together with GM David Howell, relaxing and preparing for his next event: the Chess960 Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge next month.

But enough about Carlsen. The spectators who did come to Wijk aan Zee, along with the thousands of fans online, saw Firouzja scoring an impressive victory against Maghsoodloo's Berlin Defense. Black's 18th move was a bad novelty but by then he was already out of book.

That was not the case for Firouzja, who noted Black should play 18...c6, as seen for instance in his game with GM Sam Sevian from the 2019 Chess.com Junior Speed Chess Championship. "He has to remember a lot of things in this line," Firouzja said. "It's a draw probably at the end, but memorizing all of this is very difficult. He knew the line but he confused something."

Firouzja continued with the engine's first choices, and his attacking moves forced Maghsoodloo to give up his queen for a rook and a minor piece. That's usually not enough, including in this game, as GM Rafael Leitao shows:

In the post-game interview, Firouzja also commented about his perfect 7/7 tournament in December in Rouen, where he qualified for the Candidates:

"It was a very difficult tournament, maybe one of the most difficult tournaments I ever played because you cannot make one draw. So I was very happy to finally make it and yeah, I look forward to the Candidates. The people, they were very friendly there. I could say nobody distracted me. Everybody was looking forward to seeing me. I was lucky that it was very well organized. It could have gone any way but  I'm happy it went smoothly."

GM Gukesh Dommaraju is one of the three players trailing the tournament leader by half a point after an excellent victory against GM Wei Yi. As the first decisive game of the day, it was the fifth victory for the black pieces in the tournament.

Gukesh commented: "I was quite surprised that he went for the Bg5 Italian. I mean, it's a very sharp opening, but I was happy to see that. I guess he didn't know this 10...Bg4 line very much. What he did was quite interesting actually with this 13.b5, but I don't think it was the most critical. I couldn't find any attack, but I found this nice idea to play 17...Ng7 and 18...f6 and just hold his bishop on h2, but still, instead of 21.c4 he could have gone Bd3, and it was still very unclear with some g4 and Nf5 plans. But yeah, my position was also quite solid so I have long-term prospects. It was just a very unclear position."

GM Jorden van Foreest spoiled his two consecutive white games, which he had earned by picking lot number one on Friday. He lost both of them basically due to a one-move blunder. Putting his two bishops unprotected on the sixth rank failed tactically, as GM Max Warmerdam demonstrated.

"Suddenly his king is just getting mated, which was generally already an idea but mostly with the queens on, but even when the queens came off, apparently his king was in danger," said Warmerdam.

A game between two good friends, GMs Anish Giri and Vidit Gujrathi, didn't show much fireworks. "Sometimes I decide to win, and sometimes I decide to draw," Giri quipped afterward. 

Among the four draws, I also want to highlight GM Ju Wenjun's excellent defensive effort against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. Although the women's world champion erred late in the endgame in round one, this time she was rock-solid.

And what about the world champion? Well, he played another draw after failing to get an advantage against GM Alexander Donchenko's King's Indian:

Results - Challengers Round 2

Standings - Challengers Round 2

In the Challengers group, the clash between IMs Beukema and Eline Roebers saw a lovely finish. Having just won a pawn on the queenside, Beukema sacrificed a rook to break open Black's kingside.

"I enjoy these kinds of positions," the winner said. "I'm known to be an attacking player so yeah, I really liked it!"

In recent years, the general thought in Wijk aan Zee has been that the good old times have ended when the top players would first meet each other at the board and then at the bar to discuss life over a drink or two. But, as it seems, some of this atmosphere still exists.

I remember a few years ago GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov attending one of the local bars on several nights playing blitz with amateurs. On Saturday, GMs Korobov and Liam Vrolijk, who had both lost their games, could be seen in cafe Het Boegbeeld drinking their sorrows away. The next day, both of them played much better. While Vrolijk almost won, Korobov bounced back with a win:

Pairings - Masters Round 3

Pairings - Challengers Round 3

The Tata Steel Chess tournament takes place January 13-28, 2024, in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. The time control is 100 minutes for 40 moves followed by 50 minutes to finish each game with a 30-second increment. Both the Masters and Challengers groups are 14-player round-robin tournaments.

Previous posts:

• 4 Black Wins In Tata Steel Chess Masters Opening Round
• Ding Liren Ready For Tata: 'I Feel Much Better Than Before'
• 2024 Tata Steel Chess: World Champion Ding Returns, Carlsen Missing