Tata Steel 2016 - Video Recap - Round 12

Opening: B90, E15: Sicilian: Najdorf, Queen's Indian: 4.g3

Player(s): Caruana, Van Wely, Ding, Eljanov

GM John Fedorowicz recaps Round 12. Caruana and Ding won their games, respectively with Van Wely and Eljanov, to keep the tournament interesting until the very last round. Magnus drew with the American GM Wesley So, and now Caruana is again only half a point behind the World Champion. Ding, in theory, can catch Magnus at the top, should he win tomorrow the direct encounter. It won't be easy, as Carlsen has white, but pressure can always be tricky, even for the great ones. Ding is having a very good event, and his play shows he can be worrisome even for the Norwegian who comes from Mars. Caruana would need a win to catch Magnus - if Magnus draws vs. Ding - playing Tomashevsky. the professor is not having a good event, but he's a great player and if he can find himself somewhere, it won't be an easy task for the American with an Italian name. Lots of "ifs" here. It's all hypotheses, of course. But what else can we do? Magnus led the tournament most of the time, and it seems be very likely he's going to win another great event. But it's chess, and anything can happen. Behind the three players who can still win the event, the young super-strong duo Giri and So, then with 50% Wei, Mamedyarov and Eljanov. Tomorrow last round starts at 6AM EST - 12:00 CET. Meanwhile in Gibraltar, after 5 rounds Bacrot, Ragger, Harikrishna and Gupta lead with 4.5 points, followed by Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave and a plethora of strong GMs at 4.0. Five rounds to go in Gibraltar, so the final result is very "open".

Teacher's library (28) B90 E15 Caruana Van Wely Ding Eljanov recap