Gukesh sole leader, Giri beats Pragg @ Wijk aan Zee
World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju scored over fellow Indian Mendonca Leon Luke moving into sole lead with 6.5 points after the ninth round of the 87th edition of the Tata Steel Masters Chess 2025, at Dorpshuis De Moriaan, Wijk aan Zee here today. Following Gukesh at 6.0 points were Abdusattorov and Fedoseev respectively.
The day also saw Tata Steel brand ambassador Grandmaster Anish Giri securing his first win defeating overnight joint leader GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Another Indian Grandmaster who tasted defeat was Pentala Harikrishna who hard pressed against GM Fedoseev Vladimir before going down.
Fresh after the second rest day, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju found his groove defeating his fellow Velammal school-mate GM Mendonca with a measure of comfort. In the Ruy Lopez game today the world champion wrapped it up in a jiffy. Playing consistent to his strength Gukesh came with some accurate middle game plan that found Mendonca wanting. Faced with multiple loss of material Mendonca gave up on the 43rd move.
In the last game to conclude, Dutchman Anish Giri found his moorings, grinding Indian star Praggnanandhaa to a fine win. In the Indian Defense Anti-Nimzo-Indian game Giri held the initiative for a major part, until Pragg slipped. At the turn of the first time control, Giri had the edge with drawing chances for black. Into the fifth hour of play the Indian erred in the ending when Giri gave up his exchange and convincingly won after 63 moves.
Resurgent after a win yesterday, Caruana was expected to come strongly against Uzbek Abdusattorov. But the Queen pawn game went down as a quiet draw after 32 moves. The resultant double rook and minor piece ending wasn’t enough for both players to press for more.
In the Challengers section, top seed Czech GM Nguyen Thai Dan Van with 6.5 points lead the field ahead of Dutch GMs L’Ami Erwin and Bok Benjamin who shared the second place at 6.0 points each.
The tenth round starts Wednesday 29th January at 8 AM ET / 2 PM CET / 6:30 PM IST.
Gukesh Dommaraju (2777) – Mendonca Leon Luke (2639) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. d3 d6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 O-O 12. c3 Bb6 13. Na3 Ne7 14. Nc2 Ng6 15. Ne3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 Kg7 17. Bc2 c5 18. axb5 axb5 19. b4 cxb4 20. cxb4 Qe7 21. Ra5 Bd7 22. d4 Bc6 23. Qa1 Rfe8 24. Bb3 Ra8 25. Nd2 Rf8 26. Bc2 Nh5 27. Be1 Nf6 28. Rf5 Rxa5 29. bxa5 Re8 30. d5 Bd7 31. Rf2 Bc8 32. Nf1 Qa7 33. Qa3 Rd8 34. Bb4 Ne8 35. Ng3 Ne7 36. Bd1 Ng8 37. Be2 Qb7 38. Bd3 Ngf6 39. Rc2 Bd7 40. Bxd6 Nxd6 41. Qxd6 Qa7 42. Qxe5 Qxe3+ 43. Rf2 1-0
Giri Anish (2731) – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2741) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 a5 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Qc1 Be7 8. O-O c6 9. Rd1 Nbd7 10. Bf4 a4 11. Qc2 h6 12. a3 Qa5 13. Nbd2 Nh5 14. Be3 Bd6 15. Rac1 b5 16. c5 Bb8 17. Ne1 e5 18. Nd3 Nhf6 19. Nb4 Bb7 20. dxe5 Bxe5 21. Nf3 Rfe8 22. Nxe5 Rxe5 23. Bd4 Re7 24. e3 Qc7 25. Qc3 Ne5 26. f4 Ned7 27. Nxd5 Nxd5 28. Bxd5 cxd5 29. c6 f6 30. cxb7 Qxb7 31. Qc7 Nf8 32. Qxb7 Rxb7 33. Bc3 Rd8 34. Ba5 Re8 35. Kf2 Rd7 36. Rc5 Rde7 37. Rc3 Rd7 38. Rcd3 Ra8 39. Bb4 Rad8 40. Ba5 Ra8 41. Bb4 Rad8 42. Rc1 d4 43. e4 g5 44. Kf3 Re8 45. h4 Ne6 46. f5 Nd8 47. Rc8 g4+ 48. Kf4 h5 49. Bc5 Rb7 50. Rxd4 Ne6+ 51. fxe6 Rxc8 52. Rd5 Rbc7 53. e7 Re8 54. Rxh5 Kf7 55. Kxg4 Ke6 56. Rd5 Rcc8 57. Kf4 Rh8 58. h5 Rhg8 59. g4 Rce8 60. Rf5 Rc8 61. Bd4 Kxe7 62. Bxf6+ Ke6 63. h6 1-0
Fedoseev Vladimir (2717) – Harikrishna Pentala (2695) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c3 d5 3. Bf4 c6 4. h3 Bf5 5. Nd2 e6 6. Ngf3 Bd6 7. Ne5 Qc7 8. g4 Bg6 9. e3 Nbd7 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Qe2 b5 13. g5 Ng8 14. h4 Ne7 15. Qf3 Rh5 16. Be2 Nb6 17. e4 Nc4 18. a4 Nxd2 19. Kxd2 b4 20. e5 Qb8 21. cxb4 Qxb4+ 22. Qc3 Rb8 23. Bxh5 gxh5 24. Kc2 Nf5 25. Rhd1 Nxh4 26. Ra3 Nf5 27. Qxc6+ Kd8 28. Rc3 Qxb2+ 29. Kd3 Ne7 30. Qc7+ Ke8 31. Rdc1 Rd8 32. Ke3 g6 33. a5 Rd7 34. Qc5 Rb7 35. a6 Rd7 36. Qa3 Qb6 37. Qa4 Nf5+ 38. Kd3 Kf8 39. Rb3 Qd8 40. Rb7 Re7 41. Qb4 1-0
Masters (Round 9 results): van Foreest Jorden (3.5) drew with Warmerdam Max (3.5), Sarana Alexey (5.0) drew with Keymer Vincent (3.5), Gukesh Dommaraju (6.5) beat Mendonca Leon Luke (2.5), Caruana Fabiano (5.0) drew with Abdusattorov Nodirbek (6.0), Giri Anish (4.5) beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (5.5), Fedoseev Vladimir (6.0) beat Harikrishna Pentala (4.0), Wei Yi (5.0) drew with Erigaisi Arjun (2.5)
Challengers (Round 9 results): Svane Frederik (5.0) drew with Pijpers Arthur (3.5), L’Ami Erwin (6.0) drew with Yakubboev Nodirbek (4.5), Oro Faustino (2.5) lost to Gurel Ediz (5.0), Nogerbek Kazybek (5.5) drew with Nguyen Thai Dan Van (6.5), Bulmaga Irina (1.0) lost to Bok Benjamin (6.0), Lu Miaoyi (5.0) drew with Suleymanli Aydin (5.5), Vaishali Rameshbabu (5.0) drew with Divya Deshmukh(2.0)
Picture Courtesy: Tata Steel Chess
Official Site: https://tatasteelchess.com/en
