Fedoseev downs Caruana, Pragg & Abdusattorov lead @ Wijk aan Zee

GMs Abdusattorov Nodirbek & Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu led the field with 4.0 points after the fifth round of the 87th edition of the Tata Steel Masters Chess 2025, at Dorpshuis De Moriaan, Wijk aan Zee here today. Sharing the second spot were World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju & Fedoseev Vladimir at 3.5 points. Three wins of the day came from Fedoseev, Gukesh & Abdusattorov against Caruana, Keymer & van Foreest respectively.

GM Vladimir Fedoseev putting it across the World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana comes as no surprise, it happens to be his third 2800+ scalp in the past few months. In the Budapest Olympiad last September he defeated World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and just yesterday he brought down World No. 4 Erigaisi Arjun. The Queens Gambit Declined game appeared innocuously heading for a draw when Fabi slipped. The knight, bishop and pawn ending saw white going for specific targets which black was unable to answer in time. Fedoseev scripted yet another famous win in 60 moves.

The eagerly awaited game between the world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and his second GM Keymer Vincent did not disappoint. It was very well fought, with Gukesh snaring the full point after 72 moves. Keymer had his chances in the Nimzo Indian game, but conceded early into the middle game. The German’s plan of 22..f4 followed by 23..exf4 started his slide. Gukesh grabbed his chance and never loosened the grip. The placement of white pieces with good space advantage was enough for Gukesh to implement a winning plan. The result was never in doubt, though it came late. The win propels the world champion to 3.5 points, just half a point behind the leaders.

The Caro Kann advanced variation game between former Tata Steel champion Jorden van Foreest and Abdusattorov turned out to be a one sided contest. The Uzbek was always ahead of the Dutch Grandmaster in calculation and nailed it in complications as well. An ambitious queenside attack by Jorden resulted in pawn loss, wherein the daring king march by Abdusattorov spelled doom for white. Jorden threw in the towel in the queen & rook ending with two pawns down by 47th move.

The games between Wei Yi – Harikrishna, and Mendonca – Erigaisi ended in early draws by repetition, while Giri – Sarana, Warmerdam – Praggnanandhaa touched the first time control, still concluded indecisively.

In the Challengers section, Dutch star Erwin L’Ami (4.0) took the sole lead defeating Women World Junior Champion Divya Deshmukh in a marathon game. The English opening game saw L’Ami giving up his rook for a bishop as earlly as move 15. Fluent piece play in the middle game, unmindful of exchange arithmetic deficit, saw L’Ami going into lead after Divya gave up on the 53rd move.

After a day of rest, the sixth round starts Friday 24th January at 8 AM ET / 2 PM CET / 6:30 PM IST.

van Foreest Jorden (2680) – Abdusattorov Nodirbek (2768) 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Ne2 Ne7 7. a3 Ba5 8. b4 Bc7 9. Ng3 Bg6 10. h4 h6 11. h5 Bh7 12. Qg4 Rg8 13. Be2 dxc4 14. Bxc4 Nd7 15. O-O Nf5 16. Be3 Qe7 17. b5 c5 18. Nxf5 Bxf5 19. Qf3 O-O-O 20. Nd5 exd5 21. Bxd5 Kb8 22. Qxf5 Nxe5 23. dxe5 Rxd5 24. f4 Rgd8 25. Qe4 f6 26. a4 fxe5 27. a5 Qe8 28. b6 axb6 29. axb6 Bxb6 30. fxe5 Bc7 31. Bf4 Rd4 32. Qe2 Rxf4 33. Rxf4 Qxe5 34. Qa2 Qe3+ 35. Rf2 Bg3 36. Qa8+ Kc7 37. Qa5+ b6 38. Qa7+ Kc6 39. Qa4+ b5 40. Qa6+ Kd5 41. Qb7+ Kc4 42. Qf7+ Rd5 43. Ra2 Bxf2+ 44. Rxf2 Qd4 45. Kh2 Qe5+ 46. Kg1 Kb4 47. Rf1 Rd2 0-1

Fedoseev Vladimir (2717) – Caruana Fabiano (2803) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8. e3 O-O 9. Be2 dxc4 10. O-O Qe7 11. Bxc4 Na5 12. Bd3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 b6 14. Qb4 Qd6 15. Rfd1 Bb7 16. Rac1 Rac8 17. Qxd6 cxd6 18. Nd2 Rc7 19. Rc2 Rfc8 20. Rdc1 Kf8 21. f3 Ke7 22. e4 g5 23. Kf2 e5 24. Nf1 exd4 25. cxd4 Rxc2+ 26. Rxc2 Rxc2+ 27. Bxc2 Bc8 28. Bd3 Nc6 29. Ke3 a6 30. Nd2 b5 31. Nb3 d5 32. Nc5 Kd6 33. Bc2 Ne5 34. Bb3 Nc4+ 35. Kd3 Nb6 36. Kc3 a5 37. a3 f6 38. Ba2 Kc6 39. g3 Bh3 40. Nb3 Na4+ 41. Kc2 Bg2 42. e5 fxe5 43. dxe5 b4 44. Nd4+ Kc5 45. e6 Kd6 46. axb4 axb4 47. Bxd5 Bf1 48. Bb3 Nc5 49. Nf5+ Ke5 50. e7 Bd3+ 51. Kd2 Bb5 52. Bc4 Ba4 53. Ng7 g4 54. f4+ Kd4 55. Bf7 Ne4+ 56. Ke1 Kc3 57. e8=Q Bxe8 58. Nxe8 b3 59. Bxb3 Kxb3 60. Ke2 1-0

Masters (Round 5 Results): Mendonca Leon Luke (1.0) drew with Erigaisi Arjun (1.0), Wei Yi (2.5) drew with Harikrishna Pentala (3.0), Fedoseev Vladimir (3.5) bt Caruana Fabiano (2.5), Warmerdam Max (1.5) drew with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (4.0), van Foreest Jorden (1.5) lost to Abdusattorov Nodirbek (4.0), Gukesh Dommaraju (3.5) bt Keymer Vincent (2.5), Giri Anish (2.0) drew with Sarana Alexey (2.5)

Challengers (Round 5 Results): Suleymanli Aydin (2.5) lost to Yakubboev Nodirbek (2.5), Vaishali Rameshbabu (3.0) drew with Svane Frederik (2.5), Oro Faustino (1.5) drew with Pijpers Arthur (1.5), Lu Miaoyi (3.0) lost to Bok Benjamin (3.5), L’Ami Erwin (4.0) bt Divya Deshmukh (1.5), Gurel Ediz (2.5) drew with Nguyen Thai Dai Van (3.5), Nogerbek Kazybek (3.0) bt Bulmaga Irina (0.5)

Picture courtesy: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess 2025

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