Magnus Carlsen scored his first victory at Tata Steel Masters 2022, defeating Anish Giri in Round 2 and joined Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vidit Gujrathi at the top of the standings. The only other winner of the day is Richard Rapport who took full advantage of Jorden Van Foreest’s mistake in a knight endgame. All other games were drawn.

Magnus Carlsen reaped the fruits of his preparation for the title match against Ian Nepomniachtchi. The World Champion played the Catalan with a pawn sacrifice on c4, and by move 12, the opponents stepped into uncharted territory. Five moves down the road, Anish allowed an interesting exchange sacrifice which gave White sufficient compensation but no visible advantage. However, Anish almost immediately made severe miscalculation and White’s pieces pounced on the Black’s king. Giri managed to trade queens, but Magnus’s passed c-pawn became a knockout punch.

Jorden Van Foreest maintained the balance for most of the game against Richard Rapport but a terrible mistake 35…Nd7? in a pawn ending cost him dearly. White emerged with two extra pawns, and the rest was a smooth sail for the Hungarian.

In the games, Vidit – Caruana and Karjakin – Dubov players made just a few their own moves. Both encounters followed long theoretical lines known for drawish tendencies. No surprise, both pairs split points.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov opted for a rare and very aggressive line 3.g4!? (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6) against Andrey Esipenko and quickly got a fresh position. The young Russian played very sensibly, arranging his pieces in the centre but spent a lot of time. Nevertheless, after the queens left the board, the opponents somewhat surprisingly decided to bury the hatchet.

Sam Shankland and Nils Grandelius also agreed to a draw after White built a fortress with a rook and a knight against the queen, but it was American who had a fair chance to pull out his first victory. Unfortunately, Sam did not find 32.Rh1!, forcing Black to part with a pawn with no compensation. Later on, Shankland missed an interesting option Rd7 on moves 35 and 36 and let the opponent trade his most active pieces.

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Jan-Krzysztof Duda played a very solid game in which White had a slight advantage that was virtually impossible to turn it into something tangible. A draw came as a logical outcome.

Standings after Round 2: 1-3. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Magnus Calsen and Vidit Gujrathi – 1½ ; 4-11. Fabiano Caruana, Richard Rapport, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sergey Karjakin, Andrey Esipenko, Praggnanandhaa R. and Jorden Van Foreest – 1; 12-14, Sam Shankland, Nils Grandelius, Anish Giri – ½

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Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022