Tata Steel 2025 R10: Gukesh wins two in-a-row, Praggnanandhaa bounces back
The 18th World Champion, D Gukesh is in a terrific form. He scored his second consecutive win at 87th Tata Steel Masters 2025. Gukesh surprised his opponent with 1...d6 in response to 1.e4. Max Warmerdam (NED) opted for 2.g3. Gukesh got a bit surprised momentarily but he realized that he must have prepared it for some other game before. A positional mistake of incorrect bishop trade offer with Gukesh's bad bishop, turned things in the leader's way. He converted his advantage smoothly to maintain his sole lead 7.5/10. R Praggnanandhaa bounced back with a win against Vladimi Fedoseev (SLO) in a wild game. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) also had a crazy battle against Alexey Sarana (SRB) to stay in pursuit 7/10. Pentala Harikrishna saved a tough endgame against the World no.2, Fabiano Caruana (USA). Leon Luke Mendonca drew with Anish Giri (NED). Today is the last rest day. Round 11 starts tomorrow Friday at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST for both Masters and Challengers section. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025
Harikrishna salvages a draw against Caruana
"Probably this is my first time. I just wanted to surprise him and get an interesting game. Yeah he surprised me immediately afterwards with 2.g3 which I thought was weird at first but probably makes some sense." - World Champion D Gukesh on playing 1...d6 against Max Warmerdam.
"I surely do love to play chess. I think at this level, I mean you don't get here unless you love what you are doing. It's also pleasant for me to play the tournament after a month at home. It was also quite hectic, so it's nice to come here and just be able to focus on what I do the best." - Gukesh
Warmerdam - Gukesh: 0-1
D Gukesh (2777) played three Classical rated games against Max Warmerdam (NED, 2646). All of them with the white pieces. He won twice and drew only once. For the first time, the world champion faced and defeated the Netherlands no.3 with the black pieces.
Warmerdam delivered his own surprise 2.g3 after the World Champion surprised in the first move 1...d6. Gukesh was a bit surprised. He felt that his opponent probably prepared it for some other game. He was happy to get a Closed Sicilian like position minus the knight at c3.
Black felt that 13.Nd5 Ne8 should have been complex enough. The game continued 13.Na4 e6 if Black played 13...a5?? it would have trapped the knight at the center of the board 14.d5 Ne5 15.f4. So Black had to play 13...e6. to create an exfil for the knight.
Gukesh thought that maybe the mistake was 24.Bf1? Black would be slightly better, just a good position for him. After 24.Bf1 Bxf1 25.Kxf1 f6 Black got some direct way to gain advantage.
Praggnanandhaa - Fedoseev: 1-0
It might be a bit difficult to believe but R Praggnanandhaa (2741) and Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO, 2717) have never played a rated game against each other in either of the three formats. All of their clashes have been online only. Fedoseev couldn't recall the 8...Qxf6 line, so he opted for 8...gxf6 which gave him a bad pawn structure.
White got a substantial advantage in the middlegame. Both players were getting low on time and Black attempted a few tricks but White navigated all complex lines and won the game eventually.
Harikrishna - Caruana
Pentala Harikrishna (2695) had a difficult endgame to defend. He played 48.Rh1?? Rf3 would have been winning for Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2803). 48...Kc4 is also fine 49.Rh8 Rg1? Black's last chance to play 49...Rf3 was missed. Harikrishna is an endgame expert. He wasn't going to give another opportunity to his opponent and lose a half point 50.Rc8+ Kd4 51.Rd8+ Kc4 52.Rc8+ Kd4 53.Rd8+ Ke4 54.Kc4 Rg4 55.Kxb3 Rxf4 56.Rg8 Kxe5 57.Kc3 and the game meandered into a draw.
Schedule
Starting from Saturday 18th January to 2nd February, all round starts at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Rest days are same for both Masters and Challengers section - 23rd, 27th and 30th January 2025.
Replay Live stream
Replay Round 10 Masters games
Replay Round 10 Challengers games
Round 10 results
Masters
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 2801 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | ½ - ½ | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2733 | 12 | |
| 2 | 13 | 2768 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 1 - 0 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2677 | 11 | |
| 3 | 1 | 2695 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | ½ - ½ | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2803 | 10 | |
| 4 | 2 | 2741 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 1 - 0 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2717 | 9 | |
| 5 | 3 | 2639 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | ½ - ½ | GM | Giri, Anish | 2731 | 8 | |
| 6 | 4 | 2646 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | 0 - 1 | GM | Gukesh, D | 2777 | 7 | |
| 7 | 5 | 2751 | GM | Wei, Yi | ½ - ½ | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | 2680 | 6 |
Standings after Round 10
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2777 | 7,5 | 0 | 35,00 |
| 2 | 13 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | UZB | 2768 | 7 | 0 | 33,50 |
| 3 | 2 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2741 | 6,5 | 0 | 30,25 |
| 4 | 9 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | SLO | 2717 | 6 | 0 | 28,75 |
| 5 | 10 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | USA | 2803 | 5,5 | 0 | 26,75 |
| 6 | 5 | GM | Wei, Yi | CHN | 2751 | 5,5 | 0 | 24,75 |
| 7 | 8 | GM | Giri, Anish | NED | 2731 | 5 | 0 | 25,50 |
| 8 | 11 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | SRB | 2677 | 5 | 0 | 25,00 |
| 9 | 1 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | IND | 2695 | 4,5 | 0 | 18,00 |
| 10 | 6 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | NED | 2680 | 4 | 0 | 19,00 |
| 11 | 12 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | GER | 2733 | 4 | 0 | 16,00 |
| 12 | 4 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | NED | 2646 | 3,5 | 0 | 14,25 |
| 13 | 14 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2801 | 3 | 0 | 14,00 |
| 14 | 3 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | IND | 2639 | 3 | 0 | 12,75 |
Round 11 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 2680 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2801 | 14 | ||
| 2 | 7 | 2777 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Wei, Yi | 2751 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 8 | 2731 | GM | Giri, Anish | GM | Warmerdam, Max | 2646 | 4 | ||
| 4 | 9 | 2717 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2639 | 3 | ||
| 5 | 10 | 2803 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2741 | 2 | ||
| 6 | 11 | 2677 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | 2695 | 1 | ||
| 7 | 12 | 2733 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2768 | 13 |
Challengers
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 2659 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | ½ - ½ | GM | Bok, Benjamin | 2583 | 12 | |
| 2 | 13 | 2474 | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | 1 - 0 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | 2386 | 11 | |
| 3 | 1 | 2490 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | 0 - 1 | GM | Svane, Frederik | 2664 | 10 | |
| 4 | 2 | 2668 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | 1 - 0 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2476 | 9 | |
| 5 | 3 | 2623 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 1 - 0 | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | 2514 | 8 | |
| 6 | 4 | 2624 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | ½ - ½ | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | 2429 | 7 | |
| 7 | 5 | 2614 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | 1 - 0 | IM | Oro, Faustino | 2447 | 6 |
Standings after Round 10
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | CZE | 2668 | 7,5 | 0 | 35,75 |
| 2 | 5 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2614 | 7 | 0 | 29,50 |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | AZE | 2623 | 6,5 | 0 | 31,00 |
| 4 | 12 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2583 | 6,5 | 0 | 28,50 |
| 5 | 10 | GM | Svane, Frederik | GER | 2664 | 6 | 0 | 22,25 |
| 6 | 7 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | CHN | 2429 | 5,5 | 1 | 24,75 |
| 7 | 4 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | TUR | 2624 | 5,5 | 2 | 23,00 |
| 8 | 8 | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | KAZ | 2514 | 5,5 | 3 | 22,75 |
| 9 | 9 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2476 | 5 | 1 | 20,25 |
| 10 | 14 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | UZB | 2659 | 5 | 2 | 22,00 |
| 11 | 13 | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | NED | 2474 | 4,5 | 0 | 20,00 |
| 12 | 6 | IM | Oro, Faustino | ARG | 2447 | 2,5 | 0 | 5,25 |
| 13 | 1 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | IND | 2490 | 2 | 0 | 11,75 |
| 14 | 11 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | ROU | 2386 | 1 | 0 | 5,25 |
Round 11 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 2447 | IM | Oro, Faustino | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2659 | 14 | ||
| 2 | 7 | 2429 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | 2614 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 8 | 2514 | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | GM | Gurel, Ediz | 2624 | 4 | ||
| 4 | 9 | 2476 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 2623 | 3 | ||
| 5 | 10 | 2664 | GM | Svane, Frederik | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | 2668 | 2 | ||
| 6 | 11 | 2386 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | 2490 | 1 | ||
| 7 | 12 | 2583 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | 2474 | 13 |
Time Control
100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds increment for each move starting from the first move.
