Pragg, Erdoğmuş, van Foreest, Bluebaum win @ Wijk aan Zee

London Chess Classic 2025 winner GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov held fellow Uzbek GM Javokhir Sindarov to a draw, maintaining his lead with 6.0 points after the 9th round of the 88th TATA Steel Masters Chess tournament 2026 at the traditional De Moriaan Community Centre, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov is closely followed by GMs Javokhir Sindarov, Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş & Jorden van Foreest at 5.5 points. In the Challengers section, American prodigy GM Andy Woodward emerged the sole leader with a 7.5/9 score.

In what turned out to be the game of the day, former TATA Steel Masters Champion GM Jorden van Foreest turned the tables on top seed GM Vincent Keymer. In the Queen’s Pawn London System game it was the Dutch Grandmaster who called the shots from the word go. Questionable choices by Keymer in the middle-game appearted uncharacteristic and put the World No. 4 in deep trouble. The backward knight retreat 13…Ng8? at the half-way mark was where it all started. Mercifully the massacre by the Dutchman ended quickly. Not the one miss his highest scalp yet, Jorden powered on for crushing win in 26 moves. In these days of Himalayan preparation this would go down as one of the most impressive victories in Jorden van Foreest’s illustrious career.

Earlier in the tournament, GM Matthias Bluebaum expressed his interest to play against the current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. And today the German completed the task defeating the Indian in a comprehensive manner. Having reached 50% score defeating GM Vladimir Fedoseev yesterday, the world champion slid back to -1 score going down to the two time European Individual Champion. High class preparation has made chess a level-playing field these days and it could be one reason for the world champion to try out an off-beat Bishop’s opening. That it back-fired badly goes to show that it helps to play principled chess, come what may.

2025 TATA Steel Challengers winner GM Nguyen Thai Dai Van met his match going down to 14-year-old GM Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş. The win propels the Turkish prodigy into the shared second spot along with GMs Sindarov and van Foreest. Sky is the limit for this talented boy from Bursa, who keeps conquering one pole after the other. The Ruy Lopez game saw Erdoğmuş equalising without difficulty and with some fine middle-game play the teenager slowly gained the upper hand. With less than a minute on hand for the last ten moves GM Nguyen erred and got punished instantly. The game concluded on the 36th move when the Czech star resigned facing the loss of a knight.

In the Queen’s Gambit Declined game GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu took more than five hours to conquer his Indian counterpart GM Aravindh Chithambaram. The game appeared to be heading for a draw when GM Aravindh slipped in the treacherous rook ending going down in 84 moves. Rook endings need to executed with the highest precision, that of an ace surgeon’s scalpel, failing which one would be conducting one’s own last rites. Prague Masters Champion GM Aravindh went on a career high World No. 11 last year and is going through a rough patch, that needs understanding and course correction. Tasting his first win after nine torturous rounds, GM Praggnandhaa would be looking forward finish on a high. The defending champ is set to face GMs Niemann, Keymer, Sindarov & van Foreest in the final four rounds.

The games between Sindarov vs Abdusattorov, Erigaisi vs Niemann, Giri vs Fedoseev ended in draws. With four rounds to go, it could still be anyone’s title if they make it good in the home run.

The tenth round starts by Wednesday, 28th January at 8 AM ET/ 2 PM CET / 6:30 PM IST.

Pairings (Round 10): Abdusattorov – Fedoseev, Bluebaum – Giri, Erdogmus – Gukesh, Aravindh – Nguyen, Niemann – Pragg, Keymer – Erigaisi, Sindarov – van Foreest.

Results (Masters Round 9):  Praggnanandhaa (4.0) beat Aravindh (2.5), Erigaisi (4.0) drew with Niemann (5.0) van Foreest (5.5) beat Keymer (4.0), Sindarov (5.5) drew with Abdusattorov (6.0), Giri (4.5) drew with Fedoseev (4.5), Nguyen (3.0) lost to Erdgomus (5.5), Gukesh (4.0) lost to Bluebaum (5.0).

Results (Challengers Round 9):Woodward (7.5) beat Yuffa (4.5), Suleymanli (7.0) beat Oro (4.5), Panesar (3.0) drew with Ivanchuk (6.0), Roebers (1.0) lost to L’Ami (3.0), Assaubayeva (5.0) drew with Yip (4.5), Miaoyi (3.0) beat Ivic (3.5), Warmerdam (4.0) beat Maurizzi (6.5).

Jorden van Foreest (2703) – Vincent Keymer (2776) 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bd3 Bxf4 6. exf4 Qd6 7. Qd2 b6 8. Nc3 c5 9. h4 Nc6 10. h5 Bb7 11. h6 g6 12. Bb5 c4 13. Ne5 Ng8 14. O-O-O f6 15. Nxc4 dxc4 16. d5 exd5 17. Qe3+ Kf8 18. Rxd5 Qe7 19. Qd2 Ne5 20. fxe5 Bxd5 21. Nxd5 Qc5 22. Nf4 c3 23. Qd7 Qe7 24. Qd5 Re8 25. Bxe8 fxe5

26. Bxg6! 1-0

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2758) – Aravindh Chithambaram (2700) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Qa4+ Nc6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. e3 O-O 10. Rc1 Rd8 11. Bd3 Bg4 12. Be2 Bf5 13. O-O Bf8 14. Qb5 Qe6 15. Na4 Rdb8 16. Nc5 Qc8 17. Qb3 Bxc5 18. Rxc5 Ne7 19. Qa3 c6 20. b4 a6 21. Qb2 Bg4 22. a4 Bxf3 23. Bxf3 Qe6 24. b5 axb5 25. axb5 Ra5 26. Be2 Qd6 27. Rb1 Qd8 28. bxc6 Rxc5 29. dxc5 Nxc6 30. Bf3 Rc8 31. h3 Ne7 32. Qd4 Rc7 33. e4 Nc6 34. Qxd5 Rd7 35. Qb3 Nd4 36. Qe3 Nxf3+ 37. Qxf3 Qg5 38. Qg4 Qxg4 39. hxg4 Rc7 40. Rb5 Kf8 41. Kf1 Ke7 42. Ke2 Kd7 43. Kd3 Kc6 44. Kc4 Rd7 45. Rb6+ Kc7 46. Rb2 Rd1 47. Kb5 Re1 48. f3 Rd1 49. Rb4 Re1 50. Ra4 Rb1+ 51. Kc4 Rc1+ 52. Kd5 Rc2 53. Ra8 Rxg2 54. Rf8 Rd2+ 55. Ke5 Rd7 56. Rg8 Kc6 57. Rxg7 Kxc5 58. Kf6 b5 59. e5 Kd5 60. f4 b4 61. Rxf7 Rxf7+ 62. Kxf7 b3 63. e6 b2 64. e7 b1=Q 65. e8=Q Qg1 66. Qe5+ Kc6 67. Qe4+ Kb5 68. f5 h5 69. gxh5 Qa7+ 70. Kg6 Qg1+ 71. Kf7 Qa7+ 72. Qe7 Qa2+ 73. Qe6 Qa7+ 74. Kf8 Qc5+ 75. Ke8 Ka5 76. h6 Qc7 77. f6 Qb8+ 78. Kf7 Qc7+ 79. Kf8 Qc5+ 80. Kg7 Qg1+ 81. Kh8 Qc5 82. f7 Qc3+ 83. Kh7 Qc7

84. Qg6 1-0

Complete Results

Official Site: https://tatasteelchess.com/en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tatasteelchess

Photo courtesy: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Lennart Ootes / TATA Steel Chess 2026