D Gukesh took a joint head at the Tata 2025 steel chess tournament in the Netherlands with a victory over compatriot Pentala Harikrishna. Gukesh currently has five points and shares the advance with Nodirbek Abdusattorov and R Praggnanandhaa after seven rounds.
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The world chess champion Domommonju Gukesh beat his Indian compatriot Pentala Harikrishna to take a spouse in the master section at the TATA 2025 steel chess tournament at Wijk Aan Zee, in the Netherlands on Saturday. Gukesh beat Harikrishna in 46 movements in Tour 7 of the tournament and now in five points, the same as Nodirbek Abdusattorov and R Praggnanandhaa.
Gukesh will face Praggnanandhaa in the eighth round on Sunday. Harikrishna was one of the seconds of Gukesh during the historic triumph of the latter’s world chess championship against Ding Liren in Singapore last year. Gukesh also beat Vincent Keymer earlier during the failures of Tata Steel. Keymer was also part of the Gukesh team at the world chess championship.
Read also | Carlsen slaps Gukesh’s strategy as “spectacular failure” during the dead end against Abdusattorov to Tata Steel Chess
Harikrishna and Gukesh were also teammates when India won gold in the 45th Olympiad of chess in Budapest in Hungary last year.
Harikrishna’s mistakes cost him the match against Gukesh
Gukesh, playing with white pieces against Harikrishna, had an early advantage despite the loss of one of his pawns on Move Seven. Harikrishna made an error in movement 12, playing NFE7?! Instead of NCXD4 which was the best depending on the engine.
Play NFE7?! meant that Harikrishna removed one of his knights, but a few movements later, in the 14th blow, Harikrishna made another mistake, playing NF5?! Instead of G6. This meant that Harikrishna brought the same knight to the center of the chess board. In movement 29, Harikrishna played nxe3 ??, which was an error according to the engine.
The engine suggested that Harikrishna should have played in place Bxe3. Harikrishna lost the plot from that moment while Gukesh scripted his third victory for the Tata Steel chess tournament. Aside from three victories, Gukesh drew four others.
Regarding the other results, the inconsistent race of Arjun Erigaisi continued after a defeat against Max Warmerdam. Praggnanandhaa played a draw against Jorden Van Foreest while Leon Luke Mendonco and reigning champion Wei Yi played a draw.
In the Challengers section, Divya Deshmukh lost against Miaoyi Lu de China while R Vaishali was inspired by Arthur Pijpers.
Tata Steel Chess 2025 after seven rounds:
Masters
1. D GUKESH (5/7)
2. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (5/7)
3. R ​​Praggnanandhaa (5/7)
4. Vladimir Fedoseev (4.5 / 7)
5. Alexey Sarana (4/7)
6. Wei yi (3.5/7)
7. Fabiano Caruana (3.5 / 7)
8. P Harikrishna (3.5/7)
9. Anish Giri (3/7)
10. Max Warmerdam (3/7)
11. Vincent Keymer (3/7)
12. Jorden Van Forest (2.5/7)
13. Leon Luke Mendonca (2/7)
14. Arjun Erigaisi (1.5 / 7)
Challenge
1. Thai Dai Van Nguyen (5/7)
2. Erwin the friend (5/7)
3. Benjamin Bok (4.5 / 7)
4. Miaoyi lu (4.5/7)
5. Aydin Suleymanli (4/7)
6. R Vaishali (4/7)
7. Kazybek Nogerbek (4/7)
8. RASMUS SVANE (4/7)
9. Ediz Gurel (3.5/7)
10. Nodirbek yakubboev (3/7)
11. Arthur Pijpers (2.5/7)
12. Faustino Oro (2.5/7)
13. Divya Deshmukh (1.5/7)
14. Irini Bulmaga (1/7)
