Anand Joins Leaders On Tata Steel Chess's Ladies Day

No less than five players are sharing the lead at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament after seven rounds. On Saturday Anish Giri, Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen were joined by Vishy Anand, who beat Vladimir Kramnik in what wasn't a great game.

The tournament organizers had declared Saturday the 19th "Ladies Day" with a focus on the women behind the scenes, and with two female commentators: IMs Anna Rudolf and Sopiko Guramishvili. With this, and giving extra attention to children during the middle weekend, the organizers hoped to "make the stage more diverse in the future."

There was the following message from Judit Polgar:

"It's January, it's Wijk aan Zee"! The best female chess player ever, @GMJuditPolgar, is excited to come visit our tournament next week. #WomenInChess #ChessConnectsUs pic.twitter.com/WsW96ocxMh

— Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess) January 19, 2019

And the following photo fits right in as well. A big part of the Van Foreest family is playing in Wijk aan Zee.

Machteld van Foreest (sister of @jordenvforeest and Lucas van Foreest) is playing again in our Nine-Round Event #TataSteelChess #WomenInChess Photo: @fionchetta pic.twitter.com/8uS6BbVEyb

— Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess) January 19, 2019

There are no ladies playing in the Masters this year, like in most years. Why exactly it is that we still have so few females player at the top, will probably be debated for many decades to come.

We do have some diversity, and that is age. While the challengers group has a 13-year-old player (Praggnanandhaa), the masters now has a player in the group of leaders who will turn 50 in December of this year.

"I know he is very optimistic these days," Anand started his postgame interview after beating Kramnik. "Today was just insane. This was not just optimism, this was something else."

Vishy Anand joined the leaders in round seven. | Photo: Alina l'Ami/Tata Steel Chess.

The Indian legend pointed out that Kramnik's opening play had been incredibly risky. "What he was doing, g4 allowing Nxd5, Kf1... I mean I was embarrassed that I was not better," said Anand, who explained his failure to win straight away for being "groggy" himself. 

"I was teasing him afterwards that this was a game where some young players are playing rubbish to take advantage of his old opponent. Somehow we staggered through the game. Our impression was we played it quite badly."

Anand was aware of the fact that with this win he levelled his lifetime classical score with Kramnik, which is now 11-11 with 78 draws. (Including all formats, the two have played each other 198 times now!) "We were level last year and then I lost with white in the seventh round, so I'm happy we turned it around."

Anand interviewed after the game. | Video: Tata Steel Chess.

The glass is more than half full these days for Vladimir Kramnik. | Photo: Alina l'Ami/Tata Steel Chess.

Anand caught the four leaders as they all drew their games. Anish Giri and Ding Liren did so very quickly, whereas Ian Nepomniachtchi tried for quite a while against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The engine pointed out an interesting winning attempt which probably slipped the attention of the Russian player.

Magnus Carlsen left the playing hall unsatisfied. He got outprepared in the opening by Vladimir Fedoseev, dropped a pawn and needed his endgame skills to narrowly hold a rook ending to a draw. An unpleasant afternoon for the world champion, who declined an interview afterward.

Impressive hold from Magnus today. He's not always been the most solid defending these positons but today he fought hard after being heavily out-prepared. With White against Rapport coming up tomorrow this could be a key few result... #TataSteelChess

— Thomas Rendle (@TERendle) January 19, 2019

Fedoseev chose a line with an early h2-h4 against Carlsen's Gruenfeld. It should be noted that the Russian GM could be spotted in a local bar the night before together with, among others, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. It's possible that Fedoseev got inspired by Shakh, who played against lots of amateurs with 30 seconds vs 2 minutes on the clock, often pushing Harry the h-pawn early!

Carlsen facing an early h2-h4. | Photo: Alina l'Ami/Tata Steel Chess.

"I knew it till his move 13...b5," said Fedoseev. "It's not quite good for black; then white gets some chances like in the game. I remember I wrote 13...Nh5 14.Bh2 Bxe5 15.dxe5. This line is not easy for Black."

He admitted his advantage wasn't huge ("in the game it's also close to a draw") and noted that Carlsen's "trick" 39...Kf8 was important.

Fedoseev interviewed after the game. | Video: Tata Steel Chess.

Despite a late night at the bar Fedoseev managed to put Carlsen under pressure. | Photo: Alina l'Ami/Tata Steel Chess.

There's only one player on "plus one" right now, half a point behind the leaders: Teimour Radjabov. He played what was the game of the tournament so far against Vidit Gujrathi.

Like Kramnik, the Azerbaijani went for an early g2-g4 but in this Ragozin variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined it made much more sense. It led to a wonderfully conducted attack.

"I thought if I don't go for this g5 it means I am not getting any chances," said Radjabov. "Practically it's very hard for Black."

Radjabov interviewed after the game. | Video: Tata Steel Chess.

After the game the players analysed for quite a while in the press room. Like this author used to do about a decade ago, this post-mortem was filmed and posted on YouTube. Our commentator Dejan Bojkov watched it and included the most important lines in his analysis. Enjoy!

Radjabov and Vidit analysing their game. | Video: Tata Steel Chess.

Radjabov played the game of the tournament so far. | Photo: Alina l'Ami/Tata Steel Chess.

Sam Shankland is playing his first Tata Steel masters, and won his first game in round seven. "I think I played a pretty good game," he said. 

Shankland suggested an earlier improvement for his opponent Jorden van Foreest than the mistake on move 29, and complimented him on his approach: "He has absolutely taken this tournament the right way. He's had his seventh decisive game in a row, he's fighting in every game and I was looking forward to that."

Shankland interviewed after the game. | Video: Tata Steel Chess.

Shankland-Van Foreest. | Photo: Alina l'Ami/Tata Steel Chess.

Tata Steel Chess Masters | Standings

Pairings for round eight (Sunday): Carlsen-Rapport, Anand-Mamedyarov, Duda-Kramnik, Ding Liren-Nepomniachtchi, Vidit-Giri, Van Foreest-Radjabov, Fedoseev-Shankland.

In the challengers group Vladimir Kovalev drew quickly with Evgeny Bareev and got caught by Maksim Chigaev, who defeated Elisabeth Paehtz in positional style. It looked like a model game for white, but in reality black had several chances to equalize and may only have been lost after move 47.

The other lady in the group, Dinara Saduakassova, missed a great chance to beat Erwin l'Ami. It looks like both players didn't realize that white was still winning at the very end.

Saduakassova interviewed after the game. | Video: Tata Steel Chess.

Saduakassova  with tournament director Jeroen van den Berg before the game. | Photo: Alina l'Ami/Tata Steel Chess.

Tata Steel Chess Challengers | Standings

Pairings for round eight (Sunday): Korobov - Kovalev, L'Ami - Bareev, Keymer-Saduakassova, Maghsoodloo-Gledura, Paehtz-Van Foreest, Kuipers-Chigaev, Esipenko-Praggnanandhaa.

Replay the live broadcast of the seventh round.

The official video broadcast is "proudly powered" by Chess.com, which you can watch on both tatasteelchess.com and Chess.com/TV. All rounds start at 1:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. New York, 4:30 Pacific) in Wijk aan Zee, except for the following two rounds:

• On January 23 (Leiden) the rounds starts half an hour later, at 2 p.m.
• The final round, on Sunday January 27, starts 1.5 hours earlier, at noon local time.

Commentary will be provided by IMs Anna Rudolf and Lawrence Trent during the first week, and GM Robert Hess and IM Sopiko Guramishvili during the second week.

Previous reports:

• Carlsen, Giri Join Leaders At Tata Steel Chess
• Ding Liren Catches Nepomniachtchi As Tata Steel Chess Visits Alkmaar
• Tata Steel Chess R4: Carlsen Beats Giri's Drawing Streak
• Tata Steel Chess R3: Nepomniachtchi Wins Again, Grabs Lead
• Dutch Comeback: Giri, Van Foreest Win In Tata Steel Chess Round 2
• Anand, Nepomniachtchi Start With Wins At Tata Steel Chess Tournament
• Carlsen, Mamedyarov, Ding Top Seeds At 81st Tata Steel Chess Tournament