Gukesh takes the only threat by beating Leon Luke Mendonca, Praggnanandhaa loses against Giri – Firstpost

The world chess champion and the 18 -year -old Indian Grand Master, D Gukesh, separated from a top crowded from the table on Tuesday to take the only head of the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2025 at Wijk Aan Zee. During his first tournament after winning the World Chess Championship 2024, Gukesh beat his Indian compatriot Leon Luke Mendonca in the ninth round to accumulate 6.5 points of possible 9 and sit at the top.

Gukesh has half a point in advance on Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vladimir Fedoseev. Abdusattorov, in Neuvid, played a draw against Fabiano Caruana, world n ° 2, while Fedoseev beat the Pentala Harikrishna of India.

R Praggnanandhaa was among the co-leaders at the start of the new round, but was forced to fourth place after losing against the local player and Grand Master Dutch Anish Giri.

In the Challengers section, the Thai Dai Van Nguyen remains the only leader with 6.5 / 9, while Benjamin Bok joined GM Erwin the friend only half a point behind after defeating Irina Bulmaga. The only other decisive match saw Faustino Oro surge on the 87 movement at the end of the pawn game against Ediz Gurel.

How Gukesh beaten Mendonca

It was the third consecutive victory for Gukesh in the tournament with white pieces, while Mendonca, who had trouble with health problems, had a difficult task to defend with black pieces.

The world champion of chess Gukesh opted for an opening from Ruy Lopez, followed by Mendonca who defends himself for a Morphy defense. Gukesh hunted the fifth blow while Mendonca was starting to move his pawns in a variation of Columbus. The first capture occurred during the 15th blow when Mendonca captured the white knight with 15… Bxe3 followed by Gukesh by taking out the black bishop with his pawn (16.fxe3).

The game remained in balance from here until Mendonca begins to make mistakes. Under pressure from time, he played 31… BC8? When 31… H5! Followed by… H4 and… H3 would have been the best blow. Mendonca made the biggest mistake when he played 39… BD7 ?? Which gave Gukesh a massive advantage.

Mendonca, who qualified for the Masters by winning the challengers last year at Tat Steel Chess, finally resigned after Gukesh played 43.RF2.

“I have played a good game today. However, four rounds left, so not thinking much of the just happy classification how I played, “said Gukesh after the match when he crossed 2790 on the live note.

As he was the only leader at the start of the day winning a match in the ninth round, Gukesh took half avance in the standings.

His last four games are against Max Warmerdam, Wei Yi, Jorden Van Foreest and Arjun Erigaisi respectively.

Praggnanandhaa vs giri

Giri marked a convincing victory against Praggnanandhaa, which went from the second to fourth place. White suffered early pressure from the opening, but a black error on Move 29 allowed Giri to win a decisive advantage. He gently converted victory after the first control.

Erigaisi, meanwhile, attracted his match against the title champion Wei Yi. The Grand Master Chinese opted for a main line against Ruy Lopez Marshall Gambit in Arjun, but failed to find a breakthrough. The two players also lost their queens early when the game ended with a draw.

Among the Indians participating in the Challengers section, Divya Deshmukh played a draw against the compatriot R Vaishali ended with a draw.

Tata Steel DEAGES 2025 MASTERS Round class 9:

Tata Steel Chess 2025 ESTENSEMENTS Round conditions 9: