NEW DELHI: India’s chess prodigy and youngest-ever World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju has ascended to World No. Three after a strong draw towards defending champion Wei Yi of China on the Tata Metal Chess Match 2025 in Wijk aan Zee.
In the meantime, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa pocketed a sensational victory over high seed Fabiano Caruana, making it an outstanding Friday for Indian chess on Dutch soil.
Recent from a relaxation day, Gukesh confronted a tricky take a look at towards the defending champion of the Masters. Taking part in with the white items, the Indian teenager opened with a King’s Pawn, resulting in a traditional Italian Sport. The early exchanges have been sharp, with each gamers castling by transfer 5.
A serious turning level got here when Gukesh sacrificed Wei’s queen with Qxd8, forcing a direct response (Rfxd8) from the Chinese language grandmaster.
As the sport approached the endgame section, each gamers had a rook every — Gukesh relied on his bishop, whereas Wei Yi regarded to create issues along with his knight.
Nevertheless, neither might break by means of, resulting in a handshake and a draw.
With this end result, Gukesh maintained his place on the high of the Masters standings as the only chief with 8/11 factors.
The largest shock of the spherical got here when Praggnanandhaa outplayed top-seed Caruana in a masterful show. Taking part in with the black items, Pragg responded to Caruana’s English Opening with the Agincourt Protection, steadily seizing management of the board.
The battle remained evenly poised till Caruana’s misstep on transfer 32 (Qe3), which allowed Praggnanandhaa to unleash a devastating knight manoeuvre.
Inside simply 5 extra strikes, Pragg had sealed a surprising 37-move victory, handing Caruana one other stunning defeat in what has been a topsy-turvey event to this point for the American.
With the aforementioned outcomes on Friday, Gukesh overtook Caruana within the reside rankings, securing the World No. Three spot with 2793.2 Elo factors, whereas Caruana slipped to 2792.4.
One of many day’s most intriguing outcomes noticed Leon Luke Mendonca safe his first win of the event by toppling Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia.
Fedoseev, having gained reputation because the “large killer” after beating Arjun Erigaisi, Caruana, Vincent Keymer, and Pentala Harikrishna, discovered himself on the receiving finish this time. Mendonca, taking part in with black, staged a outstanding fightback to assert victory.
In the meantime, Pentala Harikrishna notched up his third win of the event, defeating Alexey Sarana in 40 strikes. Arjun Erigaisi, who has had a difficult event to this point, held former one-time champion of Wijk aan Zee, Jorden van Foreest, to a draw. The longest match of the spherical noticed Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov battle for 77 strikes earlier than agreeing to a draw. Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri continued his 10-game unbeaten streak with a win, defeating compatriot Max Warmerdam on Friday.
ALSO SEE: Tata Metal Chess 2025 Schedule
Within the Challengers part, Divya Deshmukh claimed her second win of the event by defeating Irina Bulmaga of Romania, whereas Vaishali Rameshbabu suffered a tricky loss towards Aydin Suleymanli of Azerbaijan. The Challengers leaderboard stays within the fingers of Dutch veteran Erwin l’Ami, who leads with 8/11 factors.
Tata Metal Chess Match 2025: Spherical 11
- Masters standings: Dommaraju Gukesh (8.0), Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (7.5), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (7.5), Vladimir Fedoseev (6.0), Anish Giri (6.0), Wei Yi (6.0), Fabiano Caruana (5.5), Pentala Harikrishna (5.5), Alexey Sarana (5.0), Jorden van Foreest (4.5), Vincent Keymer (4.5), Leon Luke Mendonca (4.0), Arjun Erigaisi (3.5), Max Warmerdam (3.5).
Challengers standings : Erwin l’Ami (8.0), Thai Dai Van Nguyen (7.5), Aydin Suleymanli (7.5), Benjamin Bok (7.0), Frederik Svane (7.0), Kazybek Nogerbek (6.0), Nodirbek Yakubboev (6.0), Ediz Gurel (6.0), Miaoyi Lu (5.5), Arthur Pijpers (5.0), Vaishali Rameshbabu (5.0), Divya Deshmukh (3.0), Faustino Oro (2.5), Irina Bulmaga (1.0).
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