Harikrishna brilliant, Pragg (3.5/4) leads @ Wijk aan Zee
GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (3.5) moved into sole lead, defeating countryman GM Mendonca Leon Luke in the fourth round of the 87th edition of the Tata Steel Masters Chess 2025, at Dorpshuis De Moriaan, Wijk aan Zee here today. Following Pragg half a point behind at 3.0 points was Abdusattorov Nodirbek (UZB) who was held to a draw by defending champion Wei Yi.
In the game of the day, Indian Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna sacrificed two knights in snatching a miniature 23 move win over Dutch Grandmaster Max Warmerdam. The Kings Indian Attack opened up quietly with no indication of things to come. But an uncastled king in a slightly suspect position and the Tal inside Harikrishna waking up did the rest. Double knight sacrifice 13. Nxf7 and 15. Nxe6 tore apart the black position, where Hari in a hurry wrapped up Max in no time. The Hari game of today reminded one of Viswanathan Anand – Ruslan Ponomariov, Mainz 2002 game where a mercurial Vishy Anand sacrificed two knights in succession to score fine victory.
For Praggnanandhaa it was another day in the office, as he accounted for fellow Indian Mendonca in his usual methodical way. The Ruy Lopez game saw the Pragg middle game machine in action much like yesterday. An extra pawn in the center, was more than enough for the Chennai based Grandmaster who maneuvered his way to a full point by 42 moves. The wins propels Praggnanandhaa into World No. 8 in LIVE ratings ahead of Wei Yi and Viswanathan Anand.
In the last game to be completed for the day, Alexey Sarana drew world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. The six hour 70 move game pushed Gukesh to the wall but the Indian bailed himself out with some precise play. Caruana – Giri, Keymer – van Foreest games also ended without a result.
Difficult times continued for World No. 4 Erigaisi Arjun who lost his third game in four rounds, this time to GM Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia). In a Queens Gambit Declined game Arjun built a steady king-side attack that was smoothly moving towards his first win here. Just then tragedy struck, when Arjun failed to notice a fatal knight fork at the end of a series of exchanges. Playing 27. b3 instead of 27. Nxf5 would have set the Indian on a course correcting victory, which was not to be.
In the Challengers section, the top spot was shared by Dutchman L’Ami Erwin, top seed Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Czech Rep) and 14 year old Lu Miaoyi (China) with 3.0 points from four rounds. Both the Indian stars in the Challengers section – Vaishali and Divya – won their games today. GM Vaishali Rameshbabu defeated Qatar Master 2023 winner GM Nodirbek Yakkuboev (Uzb), while IM Divya Deshmukh scored over Turkish talent Ediz Gürel.
The fifth round starts Wednesday 22nd January at 8 AM ET / 2 PM CET / 6:30 PM IST.
Harikrishna Pentala (2695) – Warmerdam Max (2646) 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 Nf6 5. O-O e6 6. c4 dxc4 7. dxc5 Qxd1 8. Rxd1 Bxc5 9. Nbd2 b5 10. a4 Ba6 11. Ng5 Nd5 12. Nde4 Bb4 13. Nxf7 Kxf7 14. Ng5+ Kf6 15. Nxe6 Nce7 16. axb5 Bb7 17. Nd4 Kf7 18. Ra4 c3 19. Rd3 a5 20. bxc3 Bxc3 21. Rf3+ Kg6 22. Nc6 Bf6 23. Ne5+ 1-0
Erigaisi Arjun (2801) – Fedoseev Vladimir (2717) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 O-O 7. Nf3 b6 8. Bg5 dxc4 9. Qxc4 Ba6 10. Qa4 Bb7 11. e3 h6 12. Bh4 Nbd7 13. Bb5 Qc8 14. Rc1 c5 15. Bxf6 Nxf6 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. b4 Ne4 18. O-O Qc7 19. Bd3 Rfd8 20. Bxe4 Bxe4 21. bxc5 Bc6 22. Qc2 Rac8 23. Nd4 Ba8 24. Rfd1 Rd5 25. Nb5 Qxc5 26. Rxd5 Qxc2 27. Rxc2 Rxc2 28. Rd8+ Kh7 29. h4 Bd5 30. Nxa7 Rc5 31. Nc8 Ra5 32. Rd7 Rxa3 33. Rxf7 Ra4 34. f3 Rxh4 35. e4 Bb3 36. Rb7 Ba4 37. Nb6 Bc2 38. Nd7 Rf4 39. Nc5 Rf8 40. Nxe6 Rg8 41. Nc5 Rc8 42. Ne6 Rg8 43. Nd4 Ba4 44. Nf5 h5 45. Kf2 Kh8 46. e5 Re8 47. Nd6 Re6 48. f4 Kg8 49. Rb8+ Kh7 50. Ne4 Re8 51. Rxe8 Bxe8 52. e6 Bc6 53. Nd6 g5 54. fxg5 Kg6 55. e7 Kxg5 56. Kg3 0-1
Masters (Round 4 Results): Harikrishna Pentala (2.5) bt Warmerdam Max (1.0), Caruana Fabiano (2.5) drew with Giri Anish (1.5), Sarana Alexey (2.0) drew with Gukesh Dommaraju (2.5), Abdusattorov Nodirbek (3.0) drew with Wei Yi (2.0), Pragganandhaa Rameshbabu (3.5) bt Mendonca Leon Luke (0.5), Keymer Vincent (2.5) drew with van Foreest Jorden (1.5), Erigaisi Arjun (0.5) lost to Fedoseev Vladimir (2.5)
Challengers (Round 4 Results): Svane Frederik (2.0) drew with Nogerbek Kazybek (2.0), Bulmaga Irina (0.5) drew with Lu Miaoyi (3.0), Pijpers Arthur (1.0) drew with L’Ami Erwin(3.0), Nguyen Thai Dai Van (3.0) drew with Suleymanli Aydin (2.5), Bok Benjamin (2.5) bt Oro Faustino (1.0), Divya Deshmukh (1.5) bt Gurel Ediz (2.0), Yakubboev Nodirbek (1.5) lost to Vaishali Rameshbabu (2.5)
Picture courtesy: Tata Steel Chess 2025
Official Site: https://tatasteelchess.com/en
