Tail-ender David Navara surprised everyone today by beating tournament leader Levon Aronian with the black pieces in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. In a very exciting game not without mistakes, Magnus Carlsen defeated Veselin Topalov to keep his chances for tournament victory alive. With two rounds to go at the 74th Tata Steel tournament the Norwegian shares second place with Teimour Radjabov, who won against his compatriot Vugar Gashimov.

The 74th Tata Steel tournament saw a fantastic round on Friday full of surprises and great games everywhere. The tournament leader went down, the world's number one was probably lost somewhere but emerged as the winner, and in total just one game ended in a draw in the A group. Furthermore, the leader in the B group lost a spectacular game while in the C group things are exciting as well with two co-leaders and two rounds to go. A better starting point for a thrilling final weekend of chess in Wijk aan Zee can hardly be imagined!

We start with the biggest upset of the tournament: tail-ender David Navara beating tournament leader Levon Aronian, with the black pieces. It was the first win for Navara, who got the 500-euro ‘Piet Zwart Prize’ for it. It started with excellent preparation by him and his second Vlastimil Jansa, involving the move 11...Na6. Black was better in the ending that resulted, and so Navara declined an early draw offer by Aronian.

I was looking at the best position I had in the whole course of the tournament!

Navara said during the press conference, which you can watch here. Besides Navara's own explanation we highly recommend checking the live commentary by GM Ian Rogers, who will be providing this during the final three rounds.

PGN string

However, we're not even sure if we should call this fight the game of the day, because Magnus Carlsen and Veselin Topalov fought out a fierce battle as well. The world's number one won it, but wasn't happy about his play. Right after the opening he blundered a pawn, but in return he got a dangerous attack. According to the Houdini evaluations Topalov was winning at some point, and former winner GM John Nunn, who is in Wijk aan Zee to participate in two solving competitions, didn't see how White would mate his opponent either.

John Nunn of England

However, over the board it was extremely difficult of course. Topalov kept good drawing chances for a long time, but eventually Carlsen won, and kept his chances alive to win the 74th edition.

PGN string

Press conference Magnus Carlsen

Carlsen-Topalov was followed closely by Vladimir Kramnik, who suddenly entered the press room in Wijk aan Zee during the round! As it turned out, the ex-World Champion was to sign a contract later that evening together with Levon Aronian and a sponsor, for a 6-game match (classical games!) in the last week of April. More details will be announced soon.

Vladimir Kramnik, a welcome guest in the press room during the 11th round

Anish Giri is having a tough time, with a series of losses. On Friday he lost to Fabiano Caruana, who got three passed pawns in return for a piece.

PGN string

Gata Kamsky and Hikaru Nakamura played the only draw of the round, in a 9.0-0-0 Dragon. Loek van Wely ended his drawing streak with a loss against Sergey Karjakin, who still only drew one game! In the derby between the two grandmasters from Azerbaijan, Teimour Radjabov defeated Vugar Gashimov with Black. It was an important win because now Radjabov is still sharing second place with Carlsen. This cannot be said about Vassily Ivanchuk, who lost thread in a completely equal position.

PGN string

The tournament leader in the B group, Pentala Harikrishna, suffered his first loss, against Sipke Ernst. It was a spectacular game in which Ernst used Aronian's idea of h4&g4 in the Lasker QGD.

PGN string

This gave Erwin l'Ami and Alexander Motylev the chance to catch Harikrishna in first place, but they drew their mutual game and so they're both still half a point behind.

In the C group, Hans Tikkanen again caught Maxim Turov in first place. The Swedish grandmaster beat Sahaj Grover while Turov drew with Brandenburg.

Daily video by the organizers

Games group A, round 11

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Round 11 standings

Games group B, round 11

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Round 11 standings

Games group C, round 11

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Round 11 standings