NEW DELHI: Enjoying with the black items on Sunday within the second spherical of the Tata Metal Chess Match 2025, D Gukesh conceded his first draw since changing into the world chess champion.
Gukesh’s opponent, Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia, started the day strongly at Wijk aan Zee, following his draw within the inaugural spherical on Saturday.
Contained in the taking part in corridor, amid the chilly environment, Gukesh lastly donned the gray hoodie he had been carrying all through many tournaments. Nevertheless, there looms a query over its necessity as the warmth on the board was sufficient to maintain the grandmasters each engaged and heat.
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After a conservative begin to the sport, Gukesh moved his queen to seize Fedoseev’s pawn on c5, giving the Russian a possibility to change queens.
Gukesh, with out hesitation, traded Fedoseev’s queen with Nxc5. With the queens off the board, Gukesh quickly misplaced his rook on the 47th transfer however retaliated by capturing Fedoseev’s knight with Kxe7. With each gamers left with 4 pawns and one rook every, they finally reached a stalemate. The gamers shook fingers to agree on a draw, Gukesh’s first within the 87th version of the “Wimbledon of Chess”.
General, it was a day of attracts, with India’s No. 1, Arjun Erigaisi, beginning sturdy towards Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri however finally settling for a stalemate. Each Arjun and Anish had begun their Tata Metal Masters campaigns on the again foot, struggling defeats of their respective match openers.
Whereas Arjun’s defeat to Pentala Harikrishna was not as discouraging as Anish’s heavy loss to Gukesh, Sunday’s draw allowed each gamers to return to their camps—Anish, particularly, with a a lot happier face.
After one other lengthy recreation, Pentala Harikrishna resigned towards R Praggnanandhaa, giving the latter the match’s first win and propelling him to the summit of the Challengers standings.
Regardless of taking part in with the white items, Pentala was unable to resist Praggnanandhaa’s sharp and strategic play. With three pawns up, Praggnanandhaa left Pentala with no selection however to concede defeat.
Not everybody within the Indian camp had cause to have a good time, as Leon Luke Mendonca, final yr’s Challengers winner, suffered one other fast defeat. Dealing with the formidable Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Leon made a important blunder on his 25th transfer with Qxd4.
Capitalising on this error with exact knight and queen manoeuvres, Nodirbek secured Mendonca’s downfall for the second consecutive day.
Trying past the Indian contingent, World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana secured his first win of the match on Sunday, defeating the Netherlands’ Jorden Van Foreest. In the meantime, defending Masters champion Yi Wei settled for a draw towards Alexey Sarana. The day’s longest recreation, a 66-move marathon between Vincent Keymer and Max Warmerdam, additionally led to a draw.
ALSO SEE: Tata Metal Chess 2025 Schedule
Within the Challengers part, Divya Deshmukh, regardless of arriving late to the desk, began the sport on a powerful be aware, placing Thai Dai Van underneath early strain. Nevertheless, the Czech chess grandmaster mounted a stable comeback, prompting Divya to accept a draw, a good end result for the Indian participant.
Divya’s compatriot, Rameshbabu Vaishali, who had secured an impressive victory within the opening spherical, was compelled to simply accept a draw towards 14-year-old Miaoyi Lu of China.
Tata Metal Chess Match 2025: Spherical 2
- Masters standings: Praggnanandhaa (1.5), Gukesh (1.5), Caruana (1.5), Abdusattorov (1.5), Keymer (1.0), Wei (1.0), Fedoseev (1.0), Warmerdam (1.0), Sarana (1.0), Harikrishna (1.0), Van Foreest (0.5), Erigaisi (0.5), Giri (0.5), Mendonca (0).
- Challengers standings: Bok (1.5), Lu (1.5), Nguyen (1.5), Svane (1.5), Yakubboev (1.5), L’Ami (1.5), Vaishali (1.5), Suleymanli (1.0), Gurel (1.0), Nogerbek (0.5), Deshmukh (0.5), Pijpers (0.5), Oro (0), Bulmaga (0).
