The Indian duo of R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh are currently sharing the head of the Masters section of the TATA 2025 steel chess tournament. The two players have 8.5 points each. Arjun Erigaisi finished his race without victory in the tournament by beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov
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The world chess world champion of Gukesh continues to direct the classification of the Masters category during the Tata Steel 2025 chess tournament at Wijk Aan Zee, in the Netherlands, after playing a draw on Saturday. During the Round 12 matches, Gukesh played a draw against Jorden Van Forest while R Praggnanandhaa, the closest competitor to Gukesh, won his third consecutive match by beating Alexey Sarana.
Arjun Erigaisi, meanwhile, ended his race without a victory in the tournament after defeating Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Praggnanandhaa is currently sharing the head with Gukesh in the masters’ classification, the two Indians who won 8.5 points so far around 13. Abdusattorov is third place with 7.5 points.
The results of Saturday mean that Masters competition is now a two horsepower race between Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, although Nodirbek has an external chance to reach the playoffs if the two Indians lose their next round of matches.
Gukesh secures difficult game
Against Jorden, Gukesh was in a winning position at some point, but finally slipped to settle for a draw. Gukesh played against the configuration of Queen’s Gambit when he faced Jorden Van Forest. Gukesh was initially on the rear foot while he lost his knight and his bishop, but found his way through excellent use of the Queen.
However, in the 46th movement, Gukesh played RF7 Move, which was not the best movement according to the engine. The engine suggested that QF7 was the best blow for the 18 -year -old. Jorden’s tower released one of Gukesh’s pawns in movement 47, but according to the engine, the Dutch should have played HQ. Only a few movements later, Gukesh accepted a draw against Jorden.
In other games, Leon Luke Mendonca attracted Fabiano Caruana while Pentala Harikrishna also attracted Vincent Keymer. In the Challengers section, R Vaishali lost against the Gain Ediz of Tukey, while Divya Deshmukh went down to Benjamin Bok from the Netherlands.
Tata steel chess failure after Tour 12
Masters: 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: Aydin Suleymanli (8.5), Erwin l’Ami (8.5), Thai Dai Van Nguyen (8.5), Benjamin Bok (8.0), Nodirbek Yakubev (7.0), Frederik Svane (7.0), Ediz Gurel (7.0), Kazybek Nogerbek (6.5)), Lu Miaoyi (5.5), Arthur Pijpers (5.0), Vauli Rameshbabu (5.0), Faustino Oro (3.5), Divya Deshmukh (3.0), Irina Bulmaga (1.0).
