NEW DELHI: The penultimate spherical of the 87th Tata Metal Chess Event 2025 on Saturday witnessed a collection of spectacular outcomes for the Indian contingent in Wijk aan Zee.
In a commanding efficiency, R Praggnanandhaa secured his sixth win of the match, defeating Serbia’s Alexey Sarana with the white items.
Taking part in an Indian Recreation with an all-pawn opening, Pragg transitioned right into a Queen’s Gambit Declined.Sarana, exhibiting early aggression, captured a few Pragg’s items.
Nonetheless, having the benefit of the primary transfer, Pragg dictated the tempo of the sport. When Sarana miscalculated with Nb5 on his 21st transfer, the Indian grandmaster capitalised with an important Nxa6+ on transfer 22, seizing management.
From that time, Sarana might solely make determined makes an attempt to salvage the place. Pragg delivered the ultimate blow on transfer 29 (Qb7+), forcing Sarana into resignation earlier than the sport reached 30 strikes.
Tata Metal Chess: Arjun Erigaisi breaks winless streak, stuns Abdusattorov
Spherical 12 additionally introduced an sudden twist, as Arjun Erigaisi, who had struggled with each well being and kind all through the match, secured his first win of the Tata Metal Masters 2025. Extremely, his sufferer was Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the Uzbek grandmaster who had remained unbeaten till this encounter.
The sport, that includes the Nimzo-Indian Defence, noticed a number of exchanges throughout the board. Taking part in with composure quite than aggression, Arjun capitalised on Abdusattorov’s Qg5 blunder on the 24th transfer. With Arjun’s g4 pawn attacking the Uzbek’s queen, Abdusattorov was compelled into retreat.
Though a misstep from Arjun on transfer 32 (Rxc6) momentarily gave Abdusattorov the higher hand, the Indian shortly recovered with exact queen and bishop manoeuvres. When Arjun captured Abdusattorov’s rook with Qxb8, the Uzbek resigned.
Earlier than this defeat, Abdusattorov had been a critical contender for the Masters title, maintaining tempo with Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa on the prime of the leaderboard. The loss now leaves him behind the 2 Indians with a rating of seven.5/12.
Tata Metal Chess Masters: Gukesh lets benefit slip, settles for draw
Within the longest recreation of Spherical 12 Masters, Gukesh Dommaraju let a profitable place slip, settling for a draw towards 2021 Tata Metal Masters champion Jorden van Foreest.
Defending with Black, Gukesh performed towards a Queen’s Gambit Declined setup. Just a few misplaced knight and bishop strikes put him in early hassle, however he recovered momentum by way of sharp queen play—solely to blunder it away with 47. Rf7. With the sport reaching a impasse, Gukesh agreed on a draw.
Tata Metal Masters 2025: Different key outcomes
Elsewhere, Indian GM Leon Luke Mendonca held prime seed Fabiano Caruana to a hard-fought draw, whereas Pentala Harikrishna additionally break up factors with Germany’s Vincent Keymer. Notably, each Harikrishna and Keymer have been a part of Gukesh’s preparation group for the upcoming World Chess Championship match towards Ding Liren of China.
In the meantime, Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri prolonged his unbeaten streak to 11 matches, drawing towards defending Masters champion Wei Yi of China. Vladimir Fedoseev, who had misplaced to Mendonca in Spherical 11, bounced again with a win over Dutch GM Max Warmerdam.
ALSO SEE: Tata Metal Chess 2025 Schedule
Within the Challengers part, 11-year-old Argentinian prodigy Faustino Oro defeated 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi of China in an exciting battle of younger abilities. In the meantime, India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu suffered a disappointing defeat towards Ediz Gurel of Türkiye.
In an 84-move marathon, Aydin Suleymanli overcame Frederik Svane of Germany. The longest recreation of the day, stretching throughout 129 strikes, noticed Divya Deshmukh battle tirelessly for a consequence, solely to falter within the last levels, in the end conceding defeat to Benjamin Bok of the Netherlands.
Tata Metal Chess Event 2025: Spherical 12
- Masters standings: Praggnanandhaa (8.5), Gukesh D (8.5), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (7.5), Vladimir Fedoseev (7.0), Anish Giri (6.5), Wei Yi (6.5), Fabiano Caruana (6.0), Pentala Harikrishna (6.0), Alexey Sarana (5.0), Jorden van Foreest (5.0), Vincent Keymer (5.0),
Arjun Erigaisi (4.5), Leon Luke Mendonca (4.5), Max Warmerdam (3.5).
- Challengers standings: Aydin Suleymanli (8.5), Erwin l’Ami (8.5), Thai Dai Van Nguyen (8.5), Benjamin Bok (8.0), Nodirbek Yakubboev (7.0), Frederik Svane (7.0), Ediz Gurel (7.0), Kazybek Nogerbek (6.5), Lu Miaoyi (5.5), Arthur Pijpers (5.0), Vaishali Rameshbabu (5.0), Faustino Oro (3.5), Divya Deshmukh (3.0), Irina Bulmaga (1.0).
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