D Gukesh secures one other spectacular win at Tata Metal Chess 2025 to remain at prime and inch nearer to 2800

D Gukesh maintained his lead on the Tata Metal Chess Masters 2025 standings by remaining unbeaten and beating native star Max Warmerdam in Spherical 10 on Thursday. That is Gukesh’s fifth win in Tata Metal Chess 2025, his first match since changing into the world chess champion, as he inches near 2800 Elo score factors.

Gukesh presently leads the Tata Metal Chess Masters 2025 standings with 7.5 factors out of 10 whereas Uzbek Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov is second with 7 factors after beating Russia’s Alexey Sarana. India’s R Praggnanandhaa, who defeated Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev in Spherical 10, is third, a degree off the highest.

5 out of seven matches in Spherical 10 produced outcomes with solely two attracts. Each attracts concerned Indian gamers as GM Arjun Erigaisi, who has been struggling for type, drew in opposition to Germany’s Vincent Keymr and Pentala Harikrishna one way or the other managed to keep away from a defeat in a difficult rook endgame in opposition to world No.2 Fabiano Caruana, dealing a large weblog to the American’s title-winning probabilities.

Gukesh wins with black items in opposition to Warmerdam 

It was an aggressive begin from Gukesh regardless of taking part in with black items as he didn’t look to defend. A 1.e4 opening from Warmerdam was met with 1…d6, because the 18-year-old Indian world chess champion made his intentions clear. Warmerdam’s comeback of two.g3 caught Gukesh off-guard however not sufficient to unsettle him.

“I simply needed to shock him and get an fascinating sport, and he shocked me instantly afterwards, with 2.g3, which I believed was bizarre at first, nevertheless it most likely makes some sense,” Gukesh defined to WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni after match.

Nonetheless, the sport developed right into a Closed Sicilian however Warmerdam nonetheless had the benefit. The 24-year-old Dutch GM made a mistake on 28.Rc1? to which Gukesh replied with the zwischenzug 28…Ne4! and took management of the match. After Gukesh performed 30…Nxg3, Warmerdam had no escape route and he resigned.

Praggnanandhaa stuns Fedoseev to bounce again

“I absolutely do like to play chess and I feel that at this stage you don’t get right here except you like what you’re doing, and in addition it’s nice for me to play this match after a month at house, when it was additionally fairly hectic. It’s good to return right here and simply have the ability to deal with what I do the perfect,” Gukesh mentioned reflecting on his win over Warmerdam and his return to chess after profitable the World Chess Championship 2024.

Gukesh now has 2793.6 factors in dwell chess score, inches away from the gold-standard Elo score of 2800. Solely Viswanathan Anand and Erigaisi from India have crossed that barrier.

Praggnanandhaa emerged as a winner in opposition to Fedoseev after the Russian made a mistake with 8…gxf6. This gave Praggnanandhaa a long-term benefit, however Fedoseev discovered counterplay, making the sport extremely complicated. Praggnanandhaa believed he had regained management with 32.Bf3, and as soon as the queens had been exchanged, he executed a forcing variation to safe victory.

India’s Leon Luke Mendonca performed out a draw in opposition to Dutch GM Anish Giri, whereas the defending champion from China, Wei Yi was held to a draw by one other native Grandmaster Jorden van Foreest.

Within the Challengers part, R Vaishali suffered a defeat in opposition to Thai Dai Van Nguyen of the Czech Republic, whereas Divya Deshmukh went all the way down to Germany’s Frederik Svane.

Tata Metal Chess 2025 Masters standings: Gukesh (7.5), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (7.0), Praggnanandhaa (6.5), Vladimir Fedoseev (6.0), Fabiano Caruana (5.5), Wei Yi (5.5), Anish Giri (5.0), Alexey Sarana (5.0), Pentala Harikrishna (4.5), Jorden van Foreest (4.0), Vincent Keymer (4.0), Max Warmerdam (3.5), Arjun Erigaisi (3.0), Leon Luke Mendonca (3.0).

Tata Metal Chess 2025 Challengers standings: Thai Dai van Nguyen (7.5), Erwin l’Ami (7.0), Aydin Suleymanli (6.5), Benjamin Bok (6.5), Frederik Svane (6.0), Miaoyi (5.5), Ediz Gurel (5.5), Kazybek Nogerbek (5.5), Nodirbek Yakubboev (5.0), Vaishali (5.0), Arthur Pijpers (4.5), Faustino Oro (2.5), Divya Deshmukh (2.0), Irina Bulmaga (1.0).