TWIC is 31. First issue 17th September 1994.
88th Tata Steel 2026 (4)
Niemann and Abdusattorov lead the Tata Steel Masters with 3/4
Mark Crowther - Wednesday 21st January 2026
Sindarov beat Bluebaum in Round 4. Photo © Michiel Abeln. | https://theweekinchess.com
There were three winners in round four of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. Hans Moke Niemann defeated Chithambaram Aravindh with the black pieces, he steadily outplayed his opponent after the inferior 14.f5?! Nodirbek Abdusattorov defeated Thai Dai Van Nguyen in a Petroff where he gradually outplayed his opponent, the computer didn't like a couple of moves 33.fxe3 and especially 34.e4 but this didn't seem obvious to the players even after the game. Thus far Matthias Bluebaum had avoided the curse of the Candidates players but two serious mistakes against Javokhir Sindarov 17.Nxa4? (going from edge to equal) and 24.Qc5? (24.Qd7!) which lost to a slightly funky tactic, lost him the game.
The remaining games were drawn. Summary below. There are two games annotated by Michiel Abeln in the game file, the rest I've annotated using Stockfish.
Round 4 Standings: 1st= Niemann, Abdusattorov 3pts, 3rd= Sindarov, Van Foreest, Erigaisi 2.5pts 6th= Erdogmus, Gukesh, Fedoseev, Bluebaum 2pts, 10th= Aravindh, Keymer, Nguyen 1.5pts, 13th= Praggnanandhaa, Giri 1pt.
Round 5 pairings: Niemann-Abdusattorov, Keymer-Aravindh, Sindarov-Erdogmus, Van Foreest-Bluebaum, Erigaisi-Fedoseev, Praggnanandhaa-Giri, Nguyen-Gukesh.
Round 4 the draws
Fedoseev-Van Foreest Tata Steel Round 4 Photo © Michiel Abeln
Vladimir Fedoseev against Jorden van Foreest was fairly normal but 38....c4? (38...h4!) was losing and 40.Rg5? (40.Rc5! wins) returned the game to equality.
Gukesh-Praggnanandhaa Tata Steel Round 4 Photo © Michiel Abeln
Gukesh against Praggnanandhaa was a weird French where it was difficult to play for both sides, black looked to be a little better for a while but it was drawn in 40 moves.
Anish Giri has been lost at some stage in every game he's played so far, and his game against Arjun Erigaisi was no exception. Giri's normally very good at technical games like this but his position just deteriorated starting from move 20. From Erigaisi's point of view 33...Rb4?! and 35...g6?! and 36...b5?!= was the path to losing his winning chances.
Erdogmus-Keymer Tata Steel Round 4 Photo © Michiel Abeln
Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus against Vincent Keymer was a very dull Berlin Ruy Lopez.
Abdusattorov-Nguyen Tata Steel Round 4 Photo © Michiel Abeln
| 88th Tata Steel Masters Wijk aan Zee NED Fri 16th Jan 2026 - Sun 1st Feb 2026. Category: 19. Ave: (2723) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Name | Title | FED | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pts | TPR |
| 1 | Niemann, Hans Moke | GM | USA | 2725 | # | = | 1 | = | 1 | 3 | 2879 | |||||||||
| 2 | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | GM | UZB | 2751 | # | = | = | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2886 | |||||||||
| 3 | Sindarov, Javokhir | GM | UZB | 2726 | # | = | = | 1 | = | 2.5 | 2820 | |||||||||
| 4 | Van Foreest, Jorden | GM | NED | 2703 | # | = | = | = | 1 | 2.5 | 2814 | |||||||||
| 5 | Erigaisi, Arjun | GM | IND | 2775 | # | = | = | = | 1 | 2.5 | 2827 | |||||||||
| 6 | Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan | GM | TUR | 2658 | = | = | # | = | = | 2 | 2738 | |||||||||
| 7 | Gukesh, D | GM | IND | 2754 | = | = | = | # | = | 2 | 2741 | |||||||||
| 8 | Fedoseev, Vladimir | GM | SLO | 2705 | 0 | = | = | # | 1 | 2 | 2733 | |||||||||
| 9 | Bluebaum, Matthias | GM | GER | 2679 | = | 0 | # | = | 1 | 2 | 2732 | |||||||||
| 10 | Aravindh, Chithambaram VR. | GM | IND | 2700 | 0 | = | = | = | # | 1.5 | 2616 | |||||||||
| 11 | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | GM | CZE | 2656 | 0 | = | = | # | = | 1.5 | 2660 | |||||||||
| 12 | Keymer, Vincent | GM | GER | 2776 | = | 0 | 0 | # | 1 | 1.5 | 2614 | |||||||||
| 13 | Giri, Anish | GM | NED | 2760 | = | 0 | = | 0 | # | 1 | 2552 | |||||||||
| 14 | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | IND | 2758 | 0 | 0 | = | = | # | 1 | 2541 | |||||||||
| Round 4. Tue 20th Jan 2026 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fedoseev, Vladimir | 1/2-1/2 | Van Foreest, Jorden | 60 | E91 | King's Indian |
| Aravindh, Chithambaram VR. | 0-1 | Niemann, Hans Moke | 55 | A05 | Reti opening |
| Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 1-0 | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | 40 | C42 | Petrov |
| Gukesh, D | 1/2-1/2 | Praggnanandhaa, R | 40 | C00 | French |
| Giri, Anish | 1/2-1/2 | Erigaisi, Arjun | 80 | D31 | QGD |
| Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan | 1/2-1/2 | Keymer, Vincent | 44 | C67 | Ruy Lopez |
| Bluebaum, Matthias | 0-1 | Sindarov, Javokhir | 27 | E90 | King's Indian |
| Tata Steel Challengers Wijk aan Zee NED Fri 16th Jan 2026 - Sun 1st Feb 2026. Category: 12. Ave: (2544) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Name | Title | FED | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pts | TPR |
| 1 | Suleymanli, Aydin | GM | AZE | 2628 | # | = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 2825 | |||||||||
| 2 | Maurizzi, MarcAndria | GM | FRA | 2611 | # | = | 1 | = | 1 | 3 | 2771 | |||||||||
| 3 | Woodward, Andy | GM | USA | 2608 | # | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2669 | |||||||||
| 4 | Oro, Faustino | IM | ARG | 2516 | # | = | = | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2735 | |||||||||
| 5 | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | GM | KAZ | 2497 | = | 1 | = | # | = | 2.5 | 2684 | |||||||||
| 6 | Yuffa, Daniil | GM | ESP | 2604 | = | = | # | = | 1 | 2.5 | 2690 | |||||||||
| 7 | Yip, Carissa | IM | USA | 2466 | 0 | # | = | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | 2645 | |||||||||
| 8 | Ivanchuk, Vasyl | GM | UKR | 2605 | = | = | # | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2587 | |||||||||
| 9 | Lu, Miaoyi | IM | CHN | 2431 | 0 | 0 | # | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2555 | |||||||||
| 10 | Ivic, Velimir | GM | SRB | 2638 | 0 | = | = | 0 | # | 1 | 2391 | |||||||||
| 11 | L'Ami, Erwin | GM | NED | 2634 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | # | 1 | 2395 | |||||||||
| 12 | Warmerdam, Max | GM | NED | 2576 | 0 | 0 | 0 | # | 1 | 1 | 2285 | |||||||||
| 13 | Panesar, Vedant | FM | IND | 2406 | 0 | 0 | 0 | # | 1 | 1 | 2275 | |||||||||
| 14 | Roebers, Eline | IM | NED | 2398 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | # | 0 | 2540 | |||||||||
| Round 4. Tue 20th Jan 2026 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suleymanli, Aydin | 1-0 | Lu, Miaoyi | 57 | E47 | Nimzo-Indian |
| Yuffa, Daniil | 1/2-1/2 | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 67 | A08 | Reti |
| Woodward, Andy | 1-0 | Warmerdam, Max | 58 | D30 | Queen's gambit declined |
| Oro, Faustino | 1-0 | Roebers, Eline | 32 | A06 | Reti opening |
| Maurizzi, MarcAndria | 1-0 | Ivic, Velimir | 59 | B30 | Sicilian |
| Ivanchuk, Vasyl | 0-1 | L'Ami, Erwin | 50 | D11 | QGD Slav |
| Yip, Carissa | 1-0 | Panesar, Vedant | 59 | C65 | Ruy Lopez |
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