GM Fabiano Caruana scored the only victory of spherical three vs. GM Jorden van Foreest on the 2023 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. The younger Dutch grandmaster threw the sport into thrilling, swashbuckling waters out of the opening however Caruana countered by seizing management of the middle. Caruana joins GMs Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Ding Liren, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov within the tie for the lead.

In the Challengers group, two contemporary victors, GMs Velimir Ivic and Javokhir Sindarov, joined the six-way tie for first. 

How to observe?

Although there was just one victory this spherical, lots of the video games had been compelling shows of the gamers’ huge skills. In explicit, the draw between GM Arjun Erigaisi and GM Levon Aronian was a chic instance of the worth of classical chess.

In a Classical Nimzo Indian, Aronian developed his items extra harmoniously and gained a small but persistent edge that he saved because the gamers traded into an ending. With a very good bishop vs. a passive knight, Aronian pressed his benefit over the following 40 strikes, activating his king and gaining an outdoor handed pawn on the a-file. In response, the 19-year-old grandmaster created counterplay by urgent his personal handed e-pawn down the board and limiting Aronian’s king along with his well-coordinated items. 

Commentator Sachdev describes the standard of play on this ending: “This is the beauty of classical chess. We’re only treated to these intricate complex situations because the players have time to navigate through these complications. If it was blitz or rapid, by now we would’ve had about four queens on the board, there would’ve been about 20 blunders made already, but as we can see the level of accuracy is so high by both players, and the fight still continues.”

After the sport, the grandmasters had been so intrigued by the probabilities of the place, they participated within the traditional post-game evaluation whereas nonetheless on the board. The commentators adopted together with the gamers’ evaluation, sharing their delight to see grandmasters keen to investigate with out engines. Sachdev noticed: “It’s heartwarming to see that the gamers do not simply stand up, return, swap on their engines and verify the strains. Instead they wish to sit and calculate with one another.” 

Round three additionally matched up the 2 high seeds―not simply on this event however on the earth―and solely gamers at the moment above 2800, Carlsen and Ding. Carlsen shocked Ding by using the London System, and the gamers ventured to a strategic middlegame with Carlsen gaining a bit of exercise and urgent on Ding’s remoted a7-pawn. Ding maneuvered his items harmoniously to orchestrate the trade of his a-pawn for Carlsen’s b3-pawn. After a slew of exchanges, the gamers agreed to a attract a minor piece ending with pawns left on just one aspect of the board.

Giri equalized with the black items within the Italian sport vs. GM Parham Maghsoodloo. Sachdev described Giri’s play within the opening: “Giri has done all that he could and gotten a dream position out of the Italian: your bishop on a7 is super active. You’ve gotten rid of White’s strong minor pieces.” After some exchanges, the gamers agreed to a draw on transfer 30, the earliest they’re allowed to. 

Hess shared his ideas on their early draw: “I’ve fairly huge emotions about this. I believe the gamers ought to all the time play it out. I believe it is higher for the spectators.”

GMs Richard Rapport and Wesley So transposed into an imbalanced variation within the Caro-Kann the place Black sacrifices a pawn to offer White one and later a second pair of doubled remoted pawns. 

Despite the energetic opening and Rapport’s further pawn, he was unable to discover a solution to make progress. Their sport ended up being the shortest sport, drawing by repetition in simply 25 strikes. 

2021 champion, van Foreest, performed essentially the most aggressive sport of the spherical vs. 2020 champion, Caruana. Upending the Petroff’s repute as a drawish opening, van Foreest supplied a knight sacrifice within the middle on transfer 11. When the American grandmaster declined, the Dutch quantity two adopted up with extra fearless strikes, propelling his kingside pawns ahead. 

After the sport, Caruana shared his ideas on the opening: “I wasn’t prepared for the Petroff. I can’t say it was a pleasant surprise. I was happy to get a game. And I figured even if I go wrong, we’ll still get a fight. I was also kind of worried because your opponent starts blitzing out f5, and you get a little bit scared.”

Van Foreest continues in aggressive trend, gaining area on the kingside on the potential price of his king security.

The sport is heating up 🔥.#TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/ok2CTIPPMU

— ChesscomLive (@ChesscomLive) January 16, 2023

Despite his opponent’s attacking advances, Caruana countered by cementing a bishop on the e5-outpost, giving him management of the middle and turning the tables on van Foreest. This fierce duel is our Game of the Day, analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao. 

GM Gukesh D. and Abdusattorov drew a really degree sport in 44 strikes, permitting Abdusattorov to take care of his tie for the lead and Gukesh to hitch the scoreboard. 

GM Praggnanandhaa R. gained an additional pawn and pressed his edge with dedication for 78 strikes vs. GM Vincent Keymer. But the younger German grandmaster defended precisely, and so they drew because the final sport to complete. Their sport has been analyzed by IM Arian Petrisor.  

♟| Vincent Keymer was working further hours for the second day in a row. He was rewarded for his effort as he made a draw from a misplaced place in opposition to Praggnanandhaa. #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/KgRwjg4jYK

— Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess) January 16, 2023

In the Challengers group, Ivic defeated 13-year-old GM Abhimanyu Mishra in a tense, dynamic battle. Can you discover the intelligent means the Serbian grandmaster completed the sport?

Additionally, Sindarov beat IM Vaishali R. by doubling rooks on the seventh rank within the ending. Ivic and Sindarov be a part of GMs Alexander Donchenko, Mustafa Yilmaz, Amin Tabatabaei, and Max Warmerdam within the lead with two factors every.