Tata Steel (Corus) Chess - 2013-14

[ajay]

Good start for Harikrishna as he drew with Aronian in 1st round, another draw in second and a win in third.

Round 1 - Saturday the 11th
Dominguez, L. - Giri, A. ½-½
Van Wely, L. - Karjakin, S. 0-1
Harikrishna, P. - Aronian, L. ½-½
Caruana, F. - Gelfand, B. 1-0
Rapport, R. - So, W. 0-1
Nakamura, H. - Naiditsch, A. 1-0

Round 2 - Sunday the 12th
Giri, A. - Naiditsch, A. 1-0
So, W. - Nakamura, H. ½-½
Gelfand, B. - Rapport, R. 0-1
Aronian, L. - Caruana, F. 1-0
Karjakin, S. - Harikrishna, P. ½-½
Dominguez, L. - Van Wely, L. ½-½

Round 3 - Monday the 13th
Van Wely, L. - Giri, A. ½-½
Harikrishna, P. - Dominguez, L. 1-0
Caruana, F. - Karjakin, S. 1-0
Rapport, R. - Aronian, L. ½-½
Nakamura, H. - Gelfand, B. ½-½
Naiditsch, A. - So, W. ½-½

Round 4 - Wednesday the 15th
Giri, A. - So, W.
Gelfand, B. - Naiditsch, A.
Aronian, L. - Nakamura, H.
Karjakin, S. - Rapport, R.
Dominguez, L. - Caruana, F.
Van Wely, L. - Harikrishna, P.

[ajay]

Round 4 - Wednesday the 15th
Giri, A. - So, W. ½-½
Gelfand, B. - Naiditsch, A. ½-½
Aronian, L. - Nakamura, H. 1-0
Karjakin, S. - Rapport, R. 1-0
Dominguez, L. - Caruana, F. 1-0
Van Wely, L. - Harikrishna, P. ½-½

Current Stnadings
1 Aronian, L. 3.0 / 4 2812 2935
2 Harikrishna, P. 2.5 / 4 2706 2844
3 Karjakin, S. 2.5 / 4 2759 2808
4 So, W. 2.5 / 4 2719 2828
5 Giri, A. 2.5 / 4 2734 2811
6 Dominguez, L. 2.0 / 4 2754 2724
7 Caruana, F. 2.0 / 4 2782 2776
8 Nakamura, H. 2.0 / 4 2789 2757
9 Van Wely, L. 1.5 / 4 2672 2651
10 Rapport, R. 1.5 / 4 2691 2680
11 Naiditsch, A. 1.0 / 4 2718 2562
12 Gelfand, B. 1.0 / 4 2777 2552

Tomorrow's schedule - Giri vs Hari will be interesting.

Round 5 - Friday the 17th
Harikrishna, P. - Giri, A.
Caruana, F. - Van Wely, L.
Rapport, R. - Dominguez, L.
Nakamura, H. - Karjakin, S.
Naiditsch, A. - Aronian, L.
So, W. - Gelfand, B.

[prashanthm]

Can we create a new thread for this year's tournament or discuss this in Hari's thread?

Unfortunately Hari lost a closely fought game to Giri in 72 moves... It was almost equal after 40 moves......

[ajay]

Hari won against Nakamura. Nakamura is currently World # 3 based on last published ratings, just behind Carlsen and Aronian. This has to be his best ever result in his career. On live rating after this match, Nakamura is still World # 7. Hari is #26 in live ratings. This victory is also Hari's second top 10 win. Hari is yet to play bottom placed Naiditsch and last but one place Gelfend.

Round 8 results
Giri ½:½ Aronian
Caruana 1:0 Rapport
Harikrishna 1:0 Nakamura
Karjakin 1:0 Gelfand
Dominguez 1:0 So
Van Wely 1:0 Naiditsch

After losing to Giri in 5th round, Hari also lost against Rapport. So he has so far two losses and two wins. With three games to go, let's see if Hari can get another victory and finish more than 4.5 (50% of maximum 9) points.

[prasen9]

How good or bad is Caruana? He is just 21. Caruana and Giri are the next challengers to Carlsen?

I hope Giri matures soon and causes some noise.

[ajay]

Among youngsters, Carlsen is already among top players of all all time, and Caruana, Nakamura and to an extent Karjakin are already top players of the world right now along with seniors Aroninan, Topalov and Kramnik, and grand dad Anand . Giri, So and Lagrave are still upcoming players and reaching there.

[prasen9]

I know all of them are top players. I should have asked better. Does anyone see Caruana upend Carlsen? Or Giri? I am talking of future world champion and not merely a top player. I am not that high on Nakamura but he has consistently given Anand trouble. Maybe he will become the top player someday. I think it will be Caruana or Giri who may be the next champ. I admit that I do not know the others well; so maybe I am wrong.

[Prashant]

If Carlsen stays interested & engaged, I don't see any of these guys becoming world champion. You'd have to find someone even younger. Carlsen is too far ahead. But I don't think Carlsen will stay engaged more than a few more years, so it could be open season. I think Caruana would seem ahead of Giri, Nakamura et al in that case.

[prasen9]

Caruana is certainly ahead of Giri.

[ajay]

Harikrishna wins with black against the bottom placed Naiditsch. Great to get the full point here. Hari next plays So after one day rest, and finally Gelfend.

Tata Steel 2014 Round 9

Aronian 1:0 Karjakin
Nakamura ½:½ Caruana
Gelfand ½:½ Dominguez
Rapport ½:½ Giri
So 1:0 Van Wely
Naiditsch 0:1 Harikrishna

Standing:

Code: Select all

Rank   Name            Score	Rating	TPR
1	 Aronian, L.	    7.0 / 9	2812	2962
2	 Giri, A.	       5.5 / 9	2734	2817
3	 Caruana, F.	    5.5 / 9	2782	2824
4	 Dominguez, L.	  5.5 / 9	2754	2812
5	 Karjakin, S.	   5.5 / 9	2759	2821
6	 Harikrishna, P.	5.0 / 9	2706	2789
7	 So, W.	         5.0 / 9	2719	2788
8	 Van Wely, L.	   4.0 / 9	2672	2696
9	 Rapport, R.	    3.5 / 9	2691	2666
10	Nakamura, H.	   3.5 / 9	2789	2664
11	Gelfand, B.	    2.5 / 9	2777	2585
12	Naiditsch, A.	  1.5 / 9	2718	2474

[ajay]

Its tough to really talk about future world champions at this moment. What we can talk about is only about future challengers, and that means we are only talking about top players of the world.

Caruana and Giri are definitely capable and possible future contenders. Caruana is already ready to challenge Carlsen. In near future, Kramnik and Aronian are also not going away anywhere and they will remain strong contenders. Aronian with consistent 2800+ rating is only 31 and still has lot of chess left in him. For me the question right now is: Can Caruana, Giri along with So, Karjakin and Lagrave upend Aroninan in next few years as number 2? ( I will also remove Nakamura from my list). These players can definitely get ahead of Aroninan to challenge Carlsen, just like Gelfend got ahead of others to challenge Anand, but it may take a while for them to catch up to Aroninan in ratings.

And surprisingly, Aronian with his 2800+ rating for more than last 3 years, is yet to play a world championship.

[prasen9]

I was surprised that you removed Nakamura from the list. If we are talking of challengers and Gelfand could make it, certainly Nakamura could on a good day (or month).

[ajay]

I was looking little more into the future and my reasoning was that Nakamura is probably already at top of his game, while other youngsters have the potential to improve. As of now, Nakamura is ahead of all these youngster except Caruana, and he can't be ruled out from making it to championship. But then there are many more who can also potentially make it to the championship based on good form.

[sameerph]

Harikrishna drew with So but lost his last match against Gelfand to eventually finish in 7th position, same as in last year's tournament. Not sure if that will help increase his overall ratings.

These are the final standings.


Final Standings:
1 Levon Aronian 8.0
2 Anish Giri 6.5
3 Sergey Karjakin 6.5
4 Fabiano Caruana 6.0
5 Leinier Dominguez 6.0
6 Wesley So 6.0
7 Pentala Harikrishna 5.5
8 Loek van Wely 5.0
9 Hikaru Nakamura 5.0
10 Boris Gelfand 4.5
11 Richard Rapport 3.5
12 Arkadij Naiditsch 3.5

[sameerph]

Harikrishna drew with So but lost his last match against Gelfand to eventually finish in 7th position, same as in last year's tournament. Not sure if that will help increase his overall ratings.

These are the final standings.


Final Standings:
1 Levon Aronian 8.0
2 Anish Giri 6.5
3 Sergey Karjakin 6.5
4 Fabiano Caruana 6.0
5 Leinier Dominguez 6.0
6 Wesley So 6.0
7 Pentala Harikrishna 5.5
8 Loek van Wely 5.0
9 Hikaru Nakamura 5.0
10 Boris Gelfand 4.5
11 Richard Rapport 3.5
12 Arkadij Naiditsch 3.5