The Dutch super-tournament in Wijk aan Zee is drawing to a close soon, but the excitement hasn’t at all abated yet as four players are still realistically in the running for a potential victory. With all but one of the games drawn in round 11, the tension hasn’t subsided at all, and a playoff finish is still on the cards at Tata Steel.
Tournament leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov faced Anish Giri with the White pieces, his closest competitor in the tournament. Though the Dutchman has displayed a lot of chutzpah in the tournament’s early rounds, he was quite willing to go for the comfortable draw against his Uzbek opponent despite trailing by half a point. As a five-time runner-up of this tournament, this might be a decision he’ll come to regret if he adds a sixth occasion to the list.
Meanwhile, the third- and fourth-placed players also clashed in the round, with Magnus Carlsen facing Wesley So. The world champion was out of book in the Nimzo-Indian Defense after eleven moves, opting for an unusual continuation after burning almost twenty minutes from his clock. 12. d5 effectively extinguished the position after a massive set of trades, and with a significant time deficit, the Norwegian steered the game to a quiet conclusion.
The only decisive result of the round came in the match between Pragg and Magshoodloo, as the Indian youngster underestimated his opponent’s savage attack. It was an explosive affair and the Iranian player finished off the game in style, sacrificing his rook to guarantee the third queen promotion of the game.
Tomorrow, Carlsen faces Pragg with the White pieces before closing out the tournament against Arjun Erigaisi with Black. Nodirbek still has So and Van Foreest on his agenda, while Giri also has to face his countryman before going up against Rapport in the final round. Should the top players end up with the same score, a playoff round would follow—it remains to be seen whether anyone can break away from the pack.
