Masters
World Champion Magnus Carlsen recorded his third victory in as many rounds by accounting for GM Pavel Eljanov in the 7th round of the Tata Steel Masters 2016. The Carlsen-Eljanov clash turned out to be extremely exciting, with Eljanov sacrificing his Knight for a couple of pawns. However, Carlsen accurately neutralized White’s initiative, going on to win the game courtesy of his powerful double bishops.
The Caruana-Ding Liren game was another highly anticipated match-up of Round 7. With excellent strategic play, Caruana beat the Chinese GM in a convincing fashion. Caruana and Carlsen are currently leading the event with 4/7.
Meanwhile, GM Mamedyarov defeated Hou Yifan whilst in the ‘battle of the Danes’, Anish Giri had no problems overcoming Van Wely.
Results:
|
Caruana |
1-0 | Ding |
| Eljanov | 0-1 |
Carlsen |
|
Navara |
½-½ | Karjakin |
| Wei Yi | ½-½ |
So Wesley |
|
Mamedyarov |
1-0 | Hou Yifan |
| Van Wely | 0-1 |
Giri |
|
Tomashevsky |
½-½ |
Adams |
Challengers
The battle between the tournament leaders – Adhiban and Dreev – proved to be the most exciting one of the day. Against Dreev’s favourite …b6 line in the Semi-Slav, Adhiban came up with a fantastic move which posed huge problems to his experienced opponent. Dreev found it anything but easy to handle the pressure against his uncastled king, allowing Adhiban to score a quick win. The game can be seen here.
Meanwhile, WGM Anne Haast, who had lost all her games so far, registered an upset by defeating top-seed GM Nisipeanu.
After 7 rounds, Adhiban is leading the field solely, half a point ahead of GM Eltaj Safarli.
Results:
|
Adhiban |
1-0 | Dreev |
| L’ami E | 0-1 |
Van Foreest |
|
Safarli |
1-0 | Antipov |
| Nisipeanu | 0-1 |
Haast |
|
Batsiashvili |
½-½ | Ju Wenjun |
|
Sevian |
½-½ | Bok |
| Abasov | ½-½ |
Admiraal |