Tata Steel 2025 R4: Praggnanandhaa scores a hat-trick, emerges sole leader and now World no.8
R Praggnanandhaa made a fantastic start at 87th Tata Steel Masters 2025. He scored his third win in-a-row to gain sole lead 3.5/4 and also become World no.8 in the live ratings. Praggnanandhaa just outplayed his fellow countryman, Leon Luke Mendonca, after the latter struggled to find out a correct plan in the middlegame. He is closely followed by Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) at 3/4. He drew with the defending champion, Wei Yi (CHN). Pentala Harikrishna made a short work of Max Warmerdam (NED) in just 23 moves. Arjun Erigaisi suffered a tough loss as he blundered in a winning position against Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO). IM Divya Deshmukh and GM R Vaishali scored a win each over GM Ediz Gurel (TUR) and GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) respectively. Round 5 starts today 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 scorches Warmerdam
Pentala Harikrishna took the game to Max Warmerdam (NED) and beat him in 23 moves. Harikrishna played Warmerdam to beat him by making an interesting knight sacrifice. GM Ediz Gurel (TUR) made an incorrect decision in the rook and minor piece endgame which cost him the game against IM Divya Deshmukh. GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) blundered in a complex position against GM R Vaishali. IM Miaoyi Lu (CHN), GM Erwin L'Ami (NED) and GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) are currently sharing the lead 3/4 in the Challengers. They are followed by GM Aydin Suleymanli (AZE), GM Benjamin Bok (NED) and GM R Vaishali at 2.5/4 each.
Praggnanandhaa - Leon: 1-0
The sole Classical rated game between R Praggnanandhaa (2741) and Leon Luke Mendonca (2639) took place more than two years ago at Asian Continental 2022. It ended in a draw. This time also Praggnanandhaa got the white pieces. However, it was Ruy Lopez/Spanish opening on the board.
After 18.Bg3, Leon struggled to find out what to do next. 18...Ba7 19.Ra1 Bb6 20.Rfe1 Ne7 Black just wasted two moves before going Ne7, something which could have been done two moves ago. Soon Black lost a pawn and eventually the game.
Harikrishna - Warmerdam: 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna (2695) is generally known as a solid player and an endgame expert. However, on a given day, he can set the board on fire if the need arises. He did it against Max Warmerdam (NED, 2646).
Harikrishna mentioned in the post-game interview that Surya Sekhar Ganguly played 9...b5 against him at World Blitz 2022. 10.a4 Ba6 11.Ng5 Nd5 is the deviation which Warmerdam played allowing White to sacrifice 13.Nxf7! He also mentioned to Harikrishna after the game that 13.Nxf7! is an interesting line. White thought that he will get three pawns for the knight but he didn't.
Harikrishna shared that 20.bxc3 is the most critical move. He shared that 20...Rac8 21.Bd2 Bxc3 22.Rf3+ Kg6 23.Nc6 White's bishop is hanging and he does not have Rg4, Rg5 tricks. The game continued 21...Bxc3 and White rejected 22.Nc6 because of Bxc6 23.bxc6 Nb6 24.Rf4+ Bf6 25.Be3 a4 as the knight lacks a good square 25.Bxb6 a3 26.Rd7 is winning for White but Harikrishna spotted Rd7 later. He ended his calculation after 25...a4.
Arjun - Fedoseev: 0-1
The last decisive Classical rated game between Arjun Erigaisi (2801) and Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO, 2717) was at FIDE World Cup 2023. Arjun won that game. Their next two Classical battles ended in a draw. It seemed like Arjun is going to win this one, until he made a terrible mistake.
26.Nxf5 gxf5 27.b3 would have maintained the upper hand for White. Instead, 26.Bxf5 gxf5 27.Nxf5?? Qxf5-+ turned things completely in Black's favor.
Challengers: Divya and Vaishali score
IM Divya Deshmukh (2490) got the better of GM Ediz Gurel (TUR, 2624) as the latter made a mistake in a rook and minor piece endgame.
Divya - Ediz
Black needed to activate his king 31...Kg6 and not worry about capturing the a3-pawn immediately. The game continued 31...Ra5? 32.Rd7 Rxa3? 33.Rxf7 and White went on to win the game.
Yakubboev - Vaishali
In a complex position, GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB, 2659) blundered 30.Bc8?? Find out the winning continuation which GM R Vaishali (2476) played in the game.
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 4 Masters games
Replay Round 4 Challengers games
Round 4 results
Masters
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 2801 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 0 - 1 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2717 | 9 | |
| 2 | 10 | 2803 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | ½ - ½ | GM | Giri, Anish | 2731 | 8 | |
| 3 | 11 | 2677 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | ½ - ½ | GM | Gukesh, D | 2777 | 7 | |
| 4 | 12 | 2733 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | ½ - ½ | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | 2680 | 6 | |
| 5 | 13 | 2768 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | ½ - ½ | GM | Wei, Yi | 2751 | 5 | |
| 6 | 1 | 2695 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | 1 - 0 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | 2646 | 4 | |
| 7 | 2 | 2741 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 1 - 0 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2639 | 3 |
Standings after Round 4
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2741 | 3,5 | 0 | 5,00 |
| 2 | 13 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | UZB | 2768 | 3 | 0 | 4,25 |
| 3 | 7 | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2777 | 2,5 | 1 | 5,00 |
| 4 | 10 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | USA | 2803 | 2,5 | 2 | 4,50 |
| 5 | 9 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | SLO | 2717 | 2,5 | 2 | 3,25 |
| 6 | 12 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | GER | 2733 | 2,5 | 4 | 2,75 |
| 7 | 1 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | IND | 2695 | 2,5 | 4 | 1,75 |
| 8 | 5 | GM | Wei, Yi | CHN | 2751 | 2 | 0 | 5,00 |
| 9 | 11 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | SRB | 2677 | 2 | 0 | 3,50 |
| 10 | 6 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | NED | 2680 | 1,5 | 0 | 3,50 |
| 11 | 8 | GM | Giri, Anish | NED | 2731 | 1,5 | 0 | 2,75 |
| 12 | 4 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | NED | 2646 | 1 | 0 | 2,25 |
| 13 | 3 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | IND | 2639 | 0,5 | 0 | 1,25 |
| 14 | 14 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2801 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,75 |
Round 5 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2639 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2801 | 14 | ||
| 2 | 4 | 2646 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2741 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 5 | 2751 | GM | Wei, Yi | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | 2695 | 1 | ||
| 4 | 6 | 2680 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2768 | 13 | ||
| 5 | 7 | 2777 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2733 | 12 | ||
| 6 | 8 | 2731 | GM | Giri, Anish | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2677 | 11 | ||
| 7 | 9 | 2717 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2803 | 10 |
Challengers
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 2659 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 0 - 1 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2476 | 9 | |
| 2 | 10 | 2664 | GM | Svane, Frederik | ½ - ½ | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | 2514 | 8 | |
| 3 | 11 | 2386 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | ½ - ½ | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | 2429 | 7 | |
| 4 | 12 | 2583 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | 1 - 0 | IM | Oro, Faustino | 2447 | 6 | |
| 5 | 13 | 2474 | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | ½ - ½ | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | 2614 | 5 | |
| 6 | 1 | 2490 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | 1 - 0 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | 2624 | 4 | |
| 7 | 2 | 2668 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | ½ - ½ | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 2623 | 3 |
Standings after Round 4
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | CHN | 2429 | 3 | 0 | 5,50 |
| 2 | 5 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2614 | 3 | 0 | 4,50 |
| 3 | 2 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | CZE | 2668 | 3 | 0 | 4,50 |
| 4 | 3 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | AZE | 2623 | 2,5 | 1 | 4,75 |
| 5 | 12 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2583 | 2,5 | 1 | 4,25 |
| 6 | 9 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2476 | 2,5 | 3 | 4,00 |
| 7 | 8 | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | KAZ | 2514 | 2 | 1 | 4,25 |
| 8 | 10 | GM | Svane, Frederik | GER | 2664 | 2 | 1 | 3,50 |
| 9 | 4 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | TUR | 2624 | 2 | 3 | 1,50 |
| 10 | 14 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | UZB | 2659 | 1,5 | 1 | 2,50 |
| 11 | 1 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | IND | 2490 | 1,5 | 2 | 3,50 |
| 12 | 13 | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | NED | 2474 | 1 | 0 | 2,75 |
| 13 | 6 | IM | Oro, Faustino | ARG | 2447 | 1 | 0 | 0,50 |
| 14 | 11 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | ROU | 2386 | 0,5 | 0 | 1,50 |
Round 5 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2623 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2659 | 14 | ||
| 2 | 4 | 2624 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | 2668 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 5 | 2614 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | 2490 | 1 | ||
| 4 | 6 | 2447 | IM | Oro, Faustino | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | 2474 | 13 | ||
| 5 | 7 | 2429 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | GM | Bok, Benjamin | 2583 | 12 | ||
| 6 | 8 | 2514 | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | 2386 | 11 | ||
| 7 | 9 | 2476 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | GM | Svane, Frederik | 2664 | 10 |
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.
Links
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Tata Steel 2025 R3: Praggnanandhaa wins two in-a-row, Gukesh draws with Caruana
@ 21/01/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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Tata Steel 2025 R2: Praggnanandhaa scores as Harikrishna falters in the endgame, Gukesh draws
@ 20/01/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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Tata Steel 2025 R1: Gukesh wins his first game after becoming World Champion, Harikrishna outplays Arjun
@ 19/01/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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Anish Giri will face D Gukesh in the first round of 87th Tata Steel Chess 2025
@ 18/01/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |