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Round 12 Summary

The final game to finish was with the leader Gukesh with the black pieces against Jorden van Foreest and it was drawn in 51 moves but both players had winning positions at various stages. The game was a fighting Queen's Gambit with chances for both sides. After 18.Bxe7 Gukesh equalised and he was better after 19.f4? Gukesh's 23...Kf8?! (23...Kd8!) left the position about balanced but very double edged and then they entered a time scramble. 39.Qa6? was losing according to the engine and Gukesh started on the road to refuting it. The key point came on move 42, a very long engine line gives 42...Rxh3! as a winning move, 42....Qf8 is equal and the played 42...Rb1 is third best and gave white some chances, 46.Qe6+ should be answered by 46...Qf7 but even then black is in trouble, instead Gukesh played 46...Rf7? trying to avoid problems in the other line but this is refuted by 47.Qg6! but not easily. As it was 47.Rxe3 played and the game was equal and soon drawn. Wild stuff.

Gukesh talks about the game.

Praggnanandhaa won his third game in a row and Alexey Sarana slumped to his third defeat in a row in a 29 move win for the Indian. Praggnanandhaa felt he really needed to make the most of the white pieces today as he has black tomorrow. The game was a Queen's Gambit where Praggnanandhaa played the subtle two step 8.Be2 (8.Bd3 straight away is unsurprisingly more normal) Bd6 9.Bd3 in order to reduce the power of h6 and g5 that was seen in the game. 10...g5 was nevertheless played by Sarana and the resulting position seemed not to be to his liking. Praggnanandhaa thought 13...g4? was bad as it "gives up all his counterplay on the kingside." Sarana had to castle Queenside (his kingside was already too compromised to go there) and black got a big attack.

Praggnanandhaa's 18.Na4?! is not liked by engines as much as 18.a6, although it's still very threatening. It did however gave Sarana a chance to survive, he needed to find 21...Ka8 which was probably quite tough to calculate, the difference between this and other defensive moves such as 21...Ka7 would be hard for any human to discern. 21...Nb5? allowed Praggnanandhaa to immediately rip Sarana's queenside to pieces with 22.Nxa6, the game was already as good as over and a few moves later Sarana, rather than resigning, allowed Praggnanandhaa to demonstrate a pretty Queen sacrifice.

Praggnanandhaa explains his win.

Leon Luke Mendonca was a bit better against Fabiano Caruana for much of their game. Mendonca missed one excellent chance when Caruana's offer 35...Rd7? to exchange Rooks should have been accepted as the knight endgame is very favourable for white. After that the game was more or less destined for a draw even if Mendonca was a pawn up. They eventually drew on move 57.

Vladimir Fedoseev and Max Warmerdam were both on a run of two defeats going into the game. For Fedoseev it meant he fell out of contention for first place, for Warmerdam it's been a struggle all tournament against more highly rated players. The only explanation for today is that he's now very tired. Fedoseev didn't seem to have much to offer and the game was about equal when Warmerdam tried to get slightly clever in the face of a discovered attack on his Rook and totally miscalculated the consequences, he thought he was attacking b7, instead it turned out he was just dead lost on the spot due to an overwhelming attack to his King.

As I intuited yesterday Arjun Erigaisi did indeed have something to say about the winner of the Tata Steel Chess tournament 2025 when he beat second placed Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Erigaisi played OK today, certainly not perfectly, but well enough. Abdusattorov played the Nimzo-Indian with 4.Qc2 d6!?, 13...Ng4 was a novelty in a rare position, the engines don't like it overly much. Erigaisi was a bit better when Abdusattorov played the careless 24...Qg5? which is just losing to 25.g4! Really that should have been that, there were so many ways to win, I think 31.Bg6 may have been the easiest, but on move 32 Arjun had to find 32.Rg6 to keep his decisive advantage, instead the second best 32.Rxc6 kept some advantage but allowed Abdusattorov right back in the game. The position remained difficult for Abdusattorov and after 36...Rf8? 37.Qg2 (the only move to a huge advantage) allowed Arjun to take the full point only a few moves later. Will Erigaisi manage to give Gukesh a problem tomorrow?

Pentala Harikrishna and Vincent Keymer drew a Catalan in 32 moves. Keymer played 3...Bb4+, 6...d6 is a quieter line than the more regular 6...d5, 9.Ne4 was new and not very challenging for black. Some exchanges followed and there was a draw by repetition on move 32.

Wei Yi and Anish Giri drew quickly in a Petroff Defence in the first game to finish. They managed to play 38 moves but they didn't take very long to do it. There were no chances for either side at all.

87th Tata Steel Masters Wijk aan Zee (NED), 18 i-2 ii 2025																cat. XX (2726)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2741	*	½	½	1	0	½	1	1	1	½	.	1	1	½	8½	2881
2.	Gukesh, D	g	IND	2777	½	*	½	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	1	.	1	1	8½	2873
3.	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	g	UZB	2768	½	½	*	½	½	½	½	.	1	1	½	0	1	1	7½	2819
4.	Fedoseev, Vladimir	g	SLO	2717	0	½	½	*	½	.	1	1	0	½	1	1	0	1	7	2781
5.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2731	1	0	½	½	*	½	½	½	½	.	½	½	½	1	6½	2758
6.	Wei, Yi	g	CHN	2751	½	½	½	.	½	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	6½	2753
7.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2803	0	½	½	0	½	½	*	½	½	1	1	½	½	.	6	2725
8.	Harikrishna, Pentala	g	IND	2695	0	0	.	0	½	½	½	*	1	½	½	1	½	1	6	2724
9.	Sarana, Alexey	g	SRB	2677	0	½	0	1	½	½	½	0	*	½	½	½	.	½	5	2679
10.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2680	½	½	0	½	.	½	0	½	½	*	½	½	½	½	5	2672
11.	Keymer, Vincent	g	GER	2733	.	0	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	*	½	1	½	5	2666
12.	Erigaisi, Arjun	g	IND	2801	0	.	1	0	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	*	½	0	4½	2628
13.	Mendonca, Leon Luke	g	IND	2639	0	0	0	1	½	½	½	½	.	½	0	½	*	½	4½	2649
14.	Warmerdam, Max	g	NED	2646	½	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	½	½	½	1	½	*	3½	2567

Round 12 (February 1, 2025)
Praggnanandhaa, R	- Sarana, Alexey	1-0	29	D36	QGD Exchange
Wei, Yi	- Giri, Anish	½-½	38	C42	Petroff's Defence
Harikrishna, Pentala	- Keymer, Vincent	½-½	32	E00	Catalan
Van Foreest, Jorden	- Gukesh, D	½-½	51	D31	Semi-Slav Defence
Erigaisi, Arjun	- Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	1-0	46	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Mendonca, Leon Luke	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	57	C55	Two Knights Defence
Warmerdam, Max	- Fedoseev, Vladimir	0-1	33	A20	English Opening

Tata Steel Challengers Wijk aan Zee (NED), 18 i-2 ii 2025																cat. XII (2547)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Suleymanli, Aydin	g	AZE	2623	*	½	½	½	0	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	.	8½	2711
2.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2614	½	*	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	½	.	1	1	1	8½	2704
3.	Nguyen, Thai Dai Van	g	CZE	2668	½	½	*	.	1	0	½	½	1	1	1	1	½	1	8½	2691
4.	Bok, Benjamin	g	NED	2583	½	0	.	*	½	½	1	½	1	½	½	1	1	1	8	2658
5.	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	g	UZB	2659	1	½	0	½	*	½	0	½	.	1	0	1	1	1	7	2603
6.	Svane, Frederik	g	GER	2664	0	½	1	½	½	*	.	½	0	½	½	1	1	1	7	2587
7.	Gurel, Ediz	g	TUR	2624	0	½	½	0	1	.	*	½	½	1	1	1	0	1	7	2587
8.	Nogerbek, Kazybek	g	KAZ	2514	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	*	0	½	1	.	1	1	6½	2586
9.	Lu, Miaoyi	m	CHN	2429	½	0	0	0	.	1	½	1	*	½	½	0	1	½	5½	2517
10.	Pijpers, Arthur	m	NED	2474	½	½	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	*	½	½	.	1	5	2500
11.	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	g	IND	2476	0	.	0	½	1	½	0	0	½	½	*	1	½	½	5	2489
12.	Oro, Faustino	m	ARG	2447	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	1	½	0	*	1	1	3½	2399
13.	Divya, Deshmukh	m	IND	2490	0	0	½	0	0	0	1	0	0	.	½	0	*	1	3	2364
14.	Bulmaga, Irina	m	ROU	2386	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	0	*	1	2152

Round 12 (February 1, 2025)
Suleymanli, Aydin	- Svane, Frederik	1-0	84	D35	QGD Exchange
L'Ami, Erwin	- Nogerbek, Kazybek	½-½	60	C45	Scotch Game
Nguyen, Thai Dai Van	- Bulmaga, Irina	1-0	44	E73	King's Indian Averbakh
Yakubboev, Nodirbek	- Pijpers, Arthur	1-0	36	A34	English Symmetrical
Gurel, Ediz	- Vaishali, Rameshbabu	1-0	77	C11	French Defence
Oro, Faustino	- Lu, Miaoyi	1-0	46	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Divya, Deshmukh	- Bok, Benjamin	0-1	129	D55	Queens Gambit Old Lasker Variation

Tata Steel Top Tienkamp Wijk aan Zee (NED), 17 i-2 ii 2025															cat. VI (2400)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Panesar, Vedant	f	IND	2446	*	½	1	½	1	1	½	½	.	½	5½	2531
2.	Slagboom, Leandro	f	NED	2369	½	*	1	0	.	½	1	½	1	1	5½	2550
3.	Grutter, Tim	f	NED	2380	0	0	*	1	½	1	1	1	½	.	5	2487
4.	Tudor, Henry Edward	f	ROU	2375	½	1	0	*	0	½	.	½	1	1	4½	2448
5.	Smeets, Kobe	f	NED	2355	0	.	½	1	*	0	0	1	½	1	4	2409
6.	Beukema, Stefan	m	BEL	2423	0	½	0	½	1	*	1	.	½	0	3½	2357
7.	Sofronie, Iulian	m	ROU	2380	½	0	0	.	1	0	*	1	½	½	3½	2362
8.	Lohia, Sohum	f	ENG	2367	½	½	0	½	0	.	0	*	½	1	3	2313
9.	Holzke, Frank	g	GER	2426	.	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	*	½	3	2303
10.	Zwirs, Nico	m	NED	2476	½	0	.	0	0	1	½	0	½	*	2½	2251

Tata Steel Chess Round 12 Commentary

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