The Week in Chess

Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Matthias Bluebaum in Round 12 of the Tata Steel Masters to take a half point lead into the final round of the Tata Steel Masters. Abdusattorov was sharing the lead with his fellow-countryman Javokhir Sindarov who took a quick draw against Praggnanandhaa, he has a final round game against Thai Dai Van Nguyen who has lost his last four rounds, but Nguyen has had winning positions in some of these games. Nguyen has clearly been outclassed but been very game, time trouble in coping with the problems he's been set has been a major issue. Nguyen qualified for this last year, he probably won't play such an event again I think he'll be motivated tomorrow. Abdusattorov faces Erigaisi in the final round, last year the same player ruined his chances in Round 12.

This has been a brutal event with very few draws. Bluebaum has impressed and could have been leading but his game against Abdusattorov was settled by a very bad blunder. He was hardly alone, Hans Moke Niemann sacrificed a piece against Gukesh no doubt reasoning that he had to win, he was totally busted instead and somehow Gukesh allowed him to escape with a draw, twice, he messed it up, was given a final chance and missed that too.

Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus recovered from two losses in a row by beating Vladimir Fedoseev, but his opponent probably hasn't played a worse game in a very long time. Anish Giri confessed to missing an awful lot in his draw against Chithambaram Vr. Aravindh. Vincent Keymer eventually beat Thai Dai Van Nguyen, he probably can't win the event but will be looking to win again against Gukesh.

I was playing chess all day, my thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos, most of the annotations and the basis of the summary below.

Aydin Suleymanli leads on tie-break from Andy Woodward, both have 9pts, going into the final round of the Challengers, Vasyl Ivanchuk has an outside chance half a point further back. Woodward-L'Ami, Yuffa-Ivanchuk and Suleymanli-Ivic are the key pairings.

Round 12 Standings: 1st Abdusattorov 8pts, 2nd Sindarov 7.5pts, 3rd= Niemann, Keymer, Van Foreest 7pts, 6th= Erdogmus, Bluebaum 6.5pts, 8th= Gukesh, Giri 6pts, 10th Fedoseev 5.5pts, 11th Praggnanandhaa 5pts, 12th= Aravindh, Erigaisi 4.5pts and 14th Nguyen 3pts.

Round 13 Sat 1pm 31st Jan 2026. Erigaisi-Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa-Van Foreest, Nguyen-Sindarov, Gukesh-Keymer, Giri-Niemann, Fedoseev-Aravindh and Bluebaum-Erdogmus.