One of the most prestigious events Tata Steel Chess is underway in Wijk aan Zee/Holland.
So far 4 rounds have been played and already there are clear leaders in both of the groups.
In the Masters event Ukrainian Grandmaster Pavel Eljanov maintained the lead from the 2nd round and is now leading with 3.5 points. Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So follow with half a point behind, while Harikrishna Pentala and Sergey Karjakin gained 2.5 points, and these five players are the only ones who scored at least one victory.
Pairings of the round 5 are:
Eljanov vs Aronian, Karjakin vs Adhiban, So vs Harikrishna, Wojtaszek vs Van Wely, Andreikin vs Rapport, Wei vs Giri, and Nepomniachtchi vs Carlsen.
In B-group Markus Ragger is leading with the perfect score – 4 out of 4! The Austrian Grandmaster defeated Xiong, Dobrov, Hansen and Tingjie, and as the top he definitely plays his role well so far.
Ilia Smirin follows with 3.5 points, while Jeffery Xiong, Lu Shanglei and Gawain Jones scored 2.5 points.
Tata Steel Challengers Standings
Pairings of 5th round are:
Smirin vs Grandelius, Tari vs Guramishvili, Bok vs Jones, Ragge vs Lu, van Foreest vs Dobrov, l’Ami vs Hansen, and Xiong vs Tingjie
Yesterday was a free day and the biggest attraction was definitely a friendly football match at the Telstar FC stadium. The captains of the opposite teams were Magnus Carlsen and Loek van Wely, and the match ended with the final score of 6-2 in Carlsen’s team favour.
During the half-time, the grandmasters visited the chess simultaneous for primary schools in the region, which also took place at the Telstar stadium.
Today’s round of the Tata Steel Master Chess Tournament 2017 will be played at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam. The games start at 2.00 pm, broadcast live at Tata Steel Chess Website. Tata Steel Challengers is played in the official venue in Wijk aan Zee, with the regular start at 1.30 pm.
Photos @Tata Steel Chess
