Chess - The Scotsman, 28/01/13

THE annual Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee is not only one of the world’s very strongest events but also one of the best loved.

On a technical level, the tournament is always impeccably run with excellent playing conditions, and there is a real camaraderie born of a huge mass of chess players all fighting together.

In contrast to many of its rivals, Wijk bucks the trend by not just comprising a single A-list cast “supergrandmaster” tournament, but also a whole raft of other events under the one roof, going down to sections for club players but touching the top group in the “Grandmaster B”, a very strong international tournament in its own right from which the winner gets an automatic invitation to the following year’s “Grandmaster A” extravaganza.

This is in part a showcase for tomorrow’s stars, and current elite players who have come through the ranks include both Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin. This year, the Grandmaster B has an average rating of 2620 and there’s an enthralling battle going on at the top, with just half a point separating four players.

In equal first, on 7/10, is the young Hungarian Richard Rapport and Sergei Movsessian of Armenia; the former though having the big tiebreak advantage by winning their match-up. Half a point behind the leaders, is Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany and local Dutch star Jan Smeets.

R Rapport - S Movsesian

75th Tata Steel GpB, (4)

Chebanenko Slav

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 e3 Nf6 4 Nc3 a6 5 Nf3 b5 6 c5 g6 7 Ne5 Bg7 8 Be2 Nfd7 9 f4 Nxe5 10 fxe5 0–0 11 0–0 Ra7 12 Bd2 f6 13 exf6 Rxf6 14 Qb3 Rxf1+ 15 Rxf1 e5 16 e4 Be6 17 exd5 cxd5 18 Ne4 Nc6 19 Bg5 Qb8 20 Bg4! Bxg4 21 Qxd5+ Kh8 22 Qxc6 exd4 23 Bf6 d3 24 Bxg7+ Rxg7 25 Qd5 h6 26 Qd4 Bf5 27 Nd6 Qf8 28 Qxd3 Rd7 29 Qd5 Qf6 30 b4 Kh7 31 h3 Qc3 32 c6 Qe3+ 33 Kh2 Be6 34 cxd7 Bxd5 35 d8Q Qe5+ 36 Kg1 Qe3+ 37 Rf2 Qe1+ 38 Rf1 Qe3+ 39 Kh2 Qe5+ 40 Kh1 1–0