Fabi, Pragg, Abdusattorov score wins, share lead @ Wijk aan Zee
Top seed Fabiano Caruana (USA) scored a facile win over Jorden van Foreest (Ned) moving into shared lead after the second round of the 87th edition of the Tata Steel Masters Chess 2025, at Dorpshuis De Moriaan, Wijk aan Zee here today. Leading the Masters Group with Caruana were Gukesh, Keymer, Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov at 1.5 points. Further half a point behind at 1.0 points were Wei Yi, Fedoseev, Warmerdam, Sarana and Harikrishna respectively.
Uzbek star Nodirbek Abdusattorov inflicted a second successive defeat on Indian youngster in a French defence advanced variation game that lasted just 31 moves. While Nodirbek’s early 6. a4 raised many an eye brows so did black’s 13…0-0-0 after which Mendonca’s position got more awkward. Getting outplayed in the queen side black played 19..g5, a move that came quite late. Few moves later black monarch found itself on the highway with no defence and gave up on 31st move.
Emerging out of a quiet Queen pawn game, Caruana got van Foreest entangled in a middle game which fetched him sizable advantage after liquidation. The ensuing rook and knight ending saw white’s “c” pawn running away and deciding the issue in favor of the American. Winning the game without much ado took the top seed on top of the table as joint leader with 1.5 points.
Fedoseev faced the Queens Gambit Declined against the world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and played out a risk free game that lasted 43 moves. Putting behind his final round loss in the Budapest Olympiad against the Indian, Fedoseev steered the game into an equal rook and pawn ending splitting the points after four hours of play.
The Sicilian Rossolimo game between the Indian Olympiad team GMs Harikrishna and Praggnanandhaa turned out to be an interesting positional battle. Hari unusually exposed his kingside going all out with his frontline soldiers. Pragg countered with queenside counter and post trade off the rook and bishop ending looked more in favor of the younger Indian. Hari gave up on the 55th turn when he’d to concede more material to stop black’s pawn on the flank.
World No. 4 Erigaisi Arjun probed local star Anish Giri in a Sicilian Najdorf game. Giri handled the discomfort in the position admirably halting his defeat from yesterday with a draw today. The rook and knight endgame looked a bit suspect for black, but Giri played out confidently and the players shook hands after repeating the moves on the 51st turn.
The four knights game between Alexey Sarana and defending champion Wei Yi saw the queens and knights off the board by 10th move. The resulting double rook and bishop position was played out with precision with neither player conceding much. Peace was signed after 54 in a rook and pawn ending that didn’t offer much.
Joint leader Vincent Keymer found himself lucky for the second time in a row, as he eluded defeat and snatched half a point from Dutch Grandmaster Max Warmerdam.
The Challengers section saw seven players sharing the lead with 1.5 points viz., top seed Nguyen Thai Dai Van, Benjamin Bok, Lu Miaoyi, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Svane Frederik, Yakubboev Nodirbek and Dutch star L’Ami Erwin.
Earlier, 11-year-old Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro lost his second game in a row and left the playing hall in tears. The third round starts Monday 20th January at 8 AM ET / 2 PM CET / 6:30 PM IST.
Masters (Round 2 Results): Abdusattorov Nodirbek (1.5) bt Mendonca Leon Luke, Caruana Fabiano (1.5) bt Van Foreest Jorden (0.5), Fedoseev Vladimir (1.0) drew with Gukesh Dommaraju (1.5), Keymer Vincent (1.5) drew with Warmerdam Max (1.0), Harikrishna Pentala (1.0) lost to Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (1.5), Sarana Alexey (1.0) drew with Wei Yi (1.0), Erigaisi Arjun (0.5) drew with Giri Anish (0.5).
Challengers (Round 2 Results): Pijpers Arthur (0.5) drew with Suleymanli Aydin (1.0), Vaishali Rameshbabu (1.5) drew with Lu Miaoyi (1.5), Svane Frederik (1.5) bt Oro Faustino, Divya Deshmukh (0.5) drew with Nguyen Thai Dai Van (1.5), Bok Benjamin (1.5) bt Gurel Ediz (1.0), Yakubboev Nodirbek (1.5) drew with Nogerbek Kazybek (0.5), Bulmaga Irnia lost to L’Ami Erwin (1.5).
Caruana Fabiano (2803) – van Foreest Jorden (2680) 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. c3 Bd6 6. Bg3 Nh6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Nbd2 b6 9. Qe2 Bb7 10. dxc5 bxc5 11. e4 Rb8 12. e5 Bc7 13. O-O Nf5 14. Bf4 c4 15. Bc2 Ba6 16. Rab1 d4 17. Nxc4 Qd5 18. b3 dxc3 19. Rfd1 Qc5 20. Bxf5 exf5 21. Qc2 Bxc4 22. Qxc3 Bb6 23. Be3 Qb4 24. Qxc4 Qxc4 25. bxc4 Bxe3 26. fxe3 h6 27. Rb5 Rfc8 28. Kf2 Kf8 29. Rd6 Nd8 30. Nd4 g6 31. Rxb8 Rxb8 32. c5 Nb7 33. Rd5 Nd8 34. c6 1-0
Abdusattorov Nodirbek (2768) – Mendonca Leon Luke (2639) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a4 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nh6 8. Bb5 Nf5 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. O-O a6 11. Bxc6 Bxc6 12. Ne2 Be7 13. b3 O-O-O 14. Bd2 Kb8 15. b4 Rc8 16. Rb1 Bd7 17. b5 axb5 18. axb5 Rc4 19. Qb3 g5 20. h3 h5 21. Bxg5 Rb4 22. Qa2 Rxb5 23. Ng3 Bxg5 24. Nxf5 exf5 25. Nxg5 Qxd4 26. Ra1 Kc7 27. Nxf7 Rg8 28. Nd6 Rb4 29. Qa5+ Qb6 30. Qxd5 Rd8 31. Nc4 1-0
Picture courtesy: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess 2025
Official Site: https://tatasteelchess.com/en
