Gukesh wins, Sindarov joins leaders @ Wijk aan Zee

FIDE World Cup winner GM Javokhir Sindarov joined GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov & Hans Moke Niemann in the with 3.5 points after the fifth round of the 88th TATA Steel Masters Chess tournament 2026 at the traditional De Moriaan Community Centre, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Half a point behind the leaders with 3.0 points were World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, GMs Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev respectively. In the Challengers section, GM Andy Woodward & IM Faustino Oro joined GM Aydin Suleymanli in the lead with 4.0 points after 5 rounds.

After 4 successive draws, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju secured his first win of the year defeating Czech Grandmaster Nguyen Thai Dai Van. In a well fought Queen’s Indian game that lasted 51 moves, Gukesh exerted pressure giving up his rook for a bishop at the fourth hour mark. The position became a bit untenable for white when GM Nguyen slipped a bit in his defence. Seizing the chance Gukesh marched his rook and knight to a fine victory. The world champion goes into the rest day with the comfort of a victory and will be fully prepared to meet tournament leader and London Chess Classic winner GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the next round.

After three draws, GM Aravindh Chithambaram succumbed to his second defeat in as many rounds. Sharp play has been the order of the day in Aravindh’s games thus far and today’s match up with World No. 4 GM Vincent Keymer was no different. Going for a double edged position arising out of Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation Aravindh found Keymer meeting the challenge with elan. Placing his rook in front of the black king with 21…Rg7 would have slowed down the German a bit, but Aravindh got there two moves later and could never match Keymer from then on. Facing multiple threats on the flank with a possible checkmate or loss of material Aravindh resigned after 36 moves.

The game between tournament leaders GMs Hans Moke Niemann and Nodirbek Abdusattorov ended in a draw. Also ending evenly were the games between GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu vs Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest vs Matthias Bluebaum.

The Queen’s Gambit Declined Ragozin Defense game between GMs Erigaisi Arjun and Vladimir Fedoseev turned out to be razor sharp battle. Deciding to keep the white king in centre offered black a nagging attack that couldn’t be shrugged off. Fedoseev followed up nicely with queen rook and knight settling the issue in 46 moves. A welcome comeback for the Russian Slovenian Grandmaster after a shocking miniature defeat in the first round.

Showing no signs of 4 losses in a row, Dutch International Master Eline Roebers scored a fine attacking win over GM Daniil Yuffa in the Challengers section. Also in his elements was 12-year-old Argentine, a Grandmaster in the making Faustino Oro, who came up with a fluent double exchange sacrifice to beat IM Lu Miaoyi. After a day of rest, the 6th round starts by Friday, 23rd January at 8 AM ET/ 2 PM CET / 6:30 PM IST.

Pairings (Round 6): Abdusattorov – Gukesh, Giri – Nguyen, Fedoseev – Pragg, Bluebaum – Erigaisi, Erdogmus – van Foreest, Aravindh – Sindarov, Niemann – Keymer.

Results (Masters Round 5): Niemann (3.5) drew with Abdusattorov (3.5), Keymer (2.5) beat Aravindh (1.5), Sindarov (3.5) beat Erdogmus (2.0), van Foreest (3.0) drew with Bluebaum (2.5), Erigaisi (2.5) lost to Fedoseev (3.0), Praggnanandhaa (1.5) drew with Giri (1.5), Nguyen (1.5) lost to Gukesh (3.0).

Results (Challengers Round 5): Ivic (1.0) lost to Yip (3.5), L’Ami (1.5) drew with Maurizzi (3.5), Assaubayeva (3.0) drew with Ivanchuk (2.5), Roebers (1.0) beat Yuffa (2.5), Miaoyi (2.0) lost to Oro (4.0), Warmerdam (1.5) drew with Suleymanli (4.0), Panesar (1.0) lost to Woodward (4.0).

Erigaisi Arjun (2775) – Vladimir Fedoseev (2705) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qb3 c5 6. Bg5 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bxc3+ 8. Qxc3 e5 9. Nb5 O-O 10. cxd5 Na6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. e4 Bd7 13. Qd2 Nc5 14. Nc3 Rac8 15. Rd1 Qg6 16. f3 f5 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. b4 Nd7 19. Bb5 Qb6 20. a4 Nf6 21. d6 a6 22. a5 Qa7 23. Ba4 Kh8 24. Rf1 b5 25. Bb3 Rfd8 26. g4 Bg6 27. g5 Nh5 28. Ne2 Rc6 29. Qd5 Rc3 30. Ba2 Qe3 31. Qd2 Nf4 32. Qxe3 Rxe3 33. Rf2 Bd3 34. Kd2 Rxe2+ 35. Rxe2 Bxe2 36. Rc1 Rxd6+ 37. Ke3 Rd3+ 38. Ke4 Bxf3+ 39. Kxe5 Ng6+ 40. Kf5 Rd8 41. Rc7 Re8 42. Rc5 Be4+ 43. Kg4 Ne5+ 44. Kg3 Nd3 45. Rc7 Nxb4 46. Bf7

46…Rf8 0-1

Nguyen Thai Dai Van (2656) – Gukesh Dommaraju (2754) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 d5 6. Bg2 Nbd7 7. O-O Rc8 8. Nbd2 Be7 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Rc1 Re8 11. Re1 Bb7 12. e3 c5 13. Qe2 a5 14. Red1 Qc7 15. h4 Bd6 16. Nb1 dxc4 17. bxc4 cxd4 18. exd4 e5 19. dxe5 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Nxe5 21. Qb7 Bc5 22. Qxc7 Rxc7 23. Bxe5 Rxe5 24. Rd8+ Bf8 25. Bf1 g6 26. Nc3 Kg7 27. Rcd1 Rc6 28. Rb8 Bb4 29. Na4 Ree6 30. Rb7 h5 31. Rc1 Ng4 32. Bg2 Be1 33. Bxc6 Bxf2+ 34. Kg2 Rxc6 35. Rc3 Bd4 36. Rf3 Ne5 37. Rf4 Rxc4 38. Nxb6 Rc2+ 39. Kf1 Be3 40. a4 Bxf4 41. gxf4 Nc4 42. Nd5 Rd2 43. Nc7 Kf6 44. Rb5 Ra2 45. Nd5+ Kg7 46. f5 gxf5 47. Nf4 Ne3+ 48. Kg1 Rxa4 49. Nxh5+ Kg6 50. Ng3 Ra2 51. Kh1

51…a4 0-1

Eline Roebers (2398) – Daniil Yuffa (2604) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qe2 Bd7 9. O-O-O b5 10. Bb3 Na5 11. f3 Be7 12. g4 O-O 13. h4 Rc8 14. Kb1 Nc4 15. Bc1 Qa5 16. h5 h6 17. f4 b4 18. g5 hxg5 19. fxg5 Ng4 20. Nf5 exf5 21. Nd5 Rfe8 22. exf5 Bxf5 23. Nxe7+ Kf8 24. h6 gxh6 25. g6 Rxe7 26. g7+ Kg8 27. Qxe7 Qe5 28. Qb7 Qb5 29. Qf3 Rc5 30. Bxh6 Na5 31. Be3 Nxb3 32. Qa8+ Rc8 33. Rh8+ Kxg7 34. Rxc8 Nxe3 35. Rg8+ Kf6 36. Qd8+ Ke5 37. Qxd6+ Ke4 38. Re1 Nd4 39. Qe7+ Ne6 40. Rg3 Kf4

41. Qd6+ 1-0

Complete Results

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