Tata Metal Chess 2025: D Gukesh again to profitable methods; Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi pocket attracts | Chess Information – The Instances of India

NEW DELHI: In a gruelling 72-move battle, the longest recreation of Spherical 5 within the Masters part, D Gukesh had the final snigger as he received again to profitable methods within the Tata Metal Chess Event 2025 in Wijk aan Zee on Wednesday.
Enjoying towards Vincent Keymer, a member of the crew he assembled throughout his preparation for the World Chess Championship, Gukesh, donning the acquainted gray hoddie, mirrored glitter of a real world champion on Dutch soil.
Enjoying with white items, the Chennai-born grandmaster made a few errors right here and there, giving the German GM an opportunity to make a comeback. Nonetheless, Keymer’s persistence finally gave approach underneath Gukesh’s superior game-reading expertise.

Below time stress, Keymer lastly resigned, giving Gukesh his second win of the match and his first after three consecutive attracts.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa continued his strong run, securing a draw towards Max Warmerdam. Their encounter started with the French Defence, with each gamers castling early on the seventh transfer. The sport appeared evenly balanced from the beginning.
Praggnanandhaa, wielding the black items, pressed aggressively, testing Warmerdam’s defensive expertise.
Regardless of the stress, the Dutch GM held agency, and the sport resulted in a draw after 39 strikes when neither facet might discover a breakthrough.
For Praggnanandhaa, it was his second draw of the match
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A stalemate additionally marked the faceoff between Arjun Erigaisi and Leon Luke Mendonca — two gamers struggling to seek out their greatest type within the match.
Final yr’s Challengers winner, Mendonca gained an early edge within the Blumenfeld Countergambit with the Spielmann Variation, however a important misstep on the 18th transfer value him an opportunity to press for a win.

His greatest likelihood, Nxd4, which captured Arjun’s black knight for his white knight, was a pivotal second within the match. However India No.1 navigated the scenario cleverly to drive a threefold repetition, ending the match inside 30 strikes. Each gamers had been left ruing missed alternatives however added half some extent to their tally.
Pentala Harikrishna and Wei Yi additionally shared factors in a quick encounter. Enjoying a French Defence (Steinitz Variation), the defending Masters champion Wei tried to realize an early edge however couldn’t break by way of Harikrishna’s strong play. However the recreation concluded in a draw after simply 22 strikes.
Vladimir Fedoseev secured a dominant win over World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana. In the meantime, one-time Tata Metal Masters winner Jorden van Foreest suffered a loss to Uzbek expertise Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the chief within the Masters standings together with Pragg on the finish of fifth spherical.

Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri managed to carry Alexey Sarana to a draw, conserving his hopes alive.
Within the Challengers part, Divya Deshmukh suffered a defeat towards the formidable Erwin l’Ami, whereas Vaishali Rameshbabu held Frederik Svane to a draw, marking her second draw of the match. In one other recreation, 15-year-old Lu Miaoyi suffered her first lack of the match, shedding to Dutch GM Benjamin Bok. Ediz Gurel and Thai Dai Van Nguyen agreed to a draw after a tiring 119-move encounter.

Tata Metal Chess Event 2025: Spherical 5