The ninth round of the Tata Steel Masters moved to the AFAS
Theatre in the Hague. Five of the seven games in the Masters
were decisive and six of seven in the Challengers.
At the end of the round four players share the lead with 5.5/9,
Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa.
Wei Yi, Santosh Vidit and Alireza Firouzja are all on 5/9.
Abdusattorov beat Jorden van Foreest pretty convincingly in just
24 moves. Praggnanandhaa beat Ju Wenjun taking on the Two Knights with
the sharp Ng5. Giri drew with black against Ding Liren and Gukesh drew
with Vidit. Alireza Firouzja lost his third game of the event when
he allowed Alexander Donchenko a huge attack, Ian Nepomniachtchi lost the thread
in a decent position against Wei Yi, and finally Maghsoodloo managed
a miracle win against Max Warmerdam, this kind of loss will
lively give the Dutchman nightmares, he went from won to equal to lost
with moves 51, 52 and 53.
Round 9 Standings:
1st= Abdusattorov, Giri, Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa 5.5pts
5th= Wei Yi, Vidit, Firouzja 5pts
8th Nepomniachtchi 4.5pts
9th= Ding Liren, Warmerdam 4pts
11th= Maghsoodloo, Ju Wenjun, Donchenko 3.5pts
14th Van Foreest 3pts
Round 10 1pm: 24th January 2024.
Firouzja-Giri,
Nepomniachtchi-Ding Liren,
Van Foreest-Wei Yi,
Warmerdam-Abdusattorov,
Ju-Maghsoodloo,
Vidit-Praggnanandhaa,
Donchenko-Gukesh.
