Tata Steel 2025 R2: Praggnanandhaa scores as Harikrishna falters in the endgame, Gukesh draws

by Shahid Ahmed - 20/01/2025

R Praggnanandhaa scored his first win at 87th Tata Steel Masters against his Gold medal winning Olympiad teammate, Pentala Harikrishna. After escaping with a draw in the first round against Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), Praggnanandhaa was on the verge of making his second consecutive draw. However, the endgame expert made a mistake of deciding not to trade the rooks and arrive at a bishop endgame which would have ended in a draw. D Gukesh had a solid draw against Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO). Arjun Erigaisi shared the point with Anish Giri (NED). Fabiano Caruana (USA) and Abdusattorov are the only two other victors in Masters. Round 3 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST for both Masters and Challengers section. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Divya shares the point with Thai Dai Van

GM R Vaishali shared the point with IM Miaoyi Lu (CHN). IM Divya Deshmukh had a well contested draw against GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE).

R Praggnanandhaa won a game against his 45th Olympiad Gold medal winning teammate - Pentala Harikrishna | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Harikrishna - Praggnanandhaa: 0-1

Pentala Harikrishna (2695) and R Praggnanandhaa (2741) were the teammates at 45th Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary. Their sole Classical rated game occurred at European Club Cup just days after their Gold medal winning performance. That game ended in a draw. This time the colors were reversed. White expanded with his pawns on the kingside in the Sicilian which is just a natural way of playing in those positions.

Position after 23.c3

Praggnanandhaa mentioned in the post-game interview that 23.c3 was the turning point. He got a lot of breaks and started taking over the game.

Position after 25.g6?

Praggnanandhaa felt that 25.g6? was not good. It was an ambitious approach by White. 25...hxg6 26.dxc4 bxc4 27.b3 Bc5 28.Be3 Bxe3 29.Rexe3 g5 30.f5 Qf4 Black thought that maybe he had something more than Qf4 but it was a good practical try.

Position after 43...Rc6

Both thought that after trading the rooks, the resultant bishop endgame is a loss for White. As it turns out, it is a draw as White can keep his king on g3 and bishop on b7. If Black captures f5 and goes for b-pawn. White can then take the g-pawns and a6 to force a draw. A rare misjudgment by Harikrishna in the endgame. He declined the rook exchange twice, eventually lost both pawns and the game.

Pentala Harikrishna vs R Praggnanandhaa, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Interview with R Praggnanandhaa | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

R Praggnanandhaa scored his first win against Pentala Harikrishna in a Classical rated game | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Abdusattorov - Leon: 1-0

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 2768) won his first Classical rated game against Leon Luke Mendonca (2639) last month at Qatar Masters 2024. In that game, Abdusattorov played 6.g3, 7.Bh3. However, this time he deviated with 6.a4 which he mentioned to be GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov's (UZB) idea. He wanted to play Bb5 which he managed to get in the game. Black made the incorrect decision to castle on the queenside which allowed a strong attack and White eventually won the game.

Interview with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Nodirbek Abdusattorov defeated Leon Luke Mendonca for the second time in consecutive months | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Interview with Fabiano Caruana (USA) after his win against Jorden van Foreest (NED) | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) - D Gukesh, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) - D Gukesh (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Arjun Erigaisi - Anish Giri (NED): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Challengers: Divya draws with Thai Dai Van

GM R Vaishali (2476) drew with IM Miaoyi Lu (CHN, 2429). IM Divya Deshmukh (2490) split the point with GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE, 2668).

IM Divya Deshmukh held Czech Republic no.2 - GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen to a draw | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Schedule

Starting from Saturday 18th January to 2nd February, all round starts at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Rest days are same for both Masters and Challengers section - 23rd, 27th and 30th January 2025.

Replay Live stream

Replay Round 2 live commentary by IM Sagar Shah, Amruta Mokal and GM Harshit Raja | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 2 Masters games

Replay Round 2 Challengers games

Round 2 results

Masters

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	14	2801	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	½ - ½	GM	Giri, Anish	2731	8
2	9	2717	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	½ - ½	GM	Gukesh, D	2777	7
3	10	2803	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	1 - 0	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	2680	6
4	11	2677	GM	Sarana, Alexey	½ - ½	GM	Wei, Yi	2751	5
5	12	2733	GM	Keymer, Vincent	½ - ½	GM	Warmerdam, Max	2646	4
6	13	2768	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	1 - 0	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2639	3
7	1	2695	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	0 - 1	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2741	2

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	IND	2741	1,5	1	1,75
2	13	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	UZB	2768	1,5	1	0,75
3	7	GM	Gukesh, D	IND	2777	1,5	3	1,00
	10	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	USA	2803	1,5	3	1,00
5	12	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2733	1,5	3	0,50
6	11	GM	Sarana, Alexey	SRB	2677	1	1	1,00
7	4	GM	Warmerdam, Max	NED	2646	1	2	1,25
	5	GM	Wei, Yi	CHN	2751	1	2	1,25
9	9	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2717	1	4	1,00
10	1	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	IND	2695	1	4	0,50
11	8	GM	Giri, Anish	NED	2731	0,5	1	0,25
12	14	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2801	0,5	1	0,25
13	6	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2680	0,5	3	0,50
14	3	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2639	0	0	0,00

Details

Round 3 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	2	2741	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R		GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2801	14
2	3	2639	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke		GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2695	1
3	4	2646	GM	Warmerdam, Max		GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2768	13
4	5	2751	GM	Wei, Yi		GM	Keymer, Vincent	2733	12
5	6	2680	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden		GM	Sarana, Alexey	2677	11
6	7	2777	GM	Gukesh, D		GM	Caruana, Fabiano	2803	10
7	8	2731	GM	Giri, Anish		GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	2717	9

Details

Challengers

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	14	2659	GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	½ - ½	GM	Nogerbek, Kazybek	2514	8
2	9	2476	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	½ - ½	IM	Lu, Miaoyi	2429	7
3	10	2664	GM	Svane, Frederik	1 - 0	IM	Oro, Faustino	2447	6
4	11	2386	IM	Bulmaga, Irina	0 - 1	GM	L'Ami, Erwin	2614	5
5	12	2583	GM	Bok, Benjamin	1 - 0	GM	Gurel, Ediz	2624	4
6	13	2474	IM	Pijpers, Arthur	½ - ½	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	2623	3
7	1	2490	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	½ - ½	GM	Nguyen, Thai Dai Van	2668	2

Details

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	7	IM	Lu, Miaoyi	CHN	2429	1,5	1	1,25
2	5	GM	L'Ami, Erwin	NED	2614	1,5	1	0,75
	9	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2476	1,5	1	0,75
	10	GM	Svane, Frederik	GER	2664	1,5	1	0,75
5	12	GM	Bok, Benjamin	NED	2583	1,5	5	1,50
6	2	GM	Nguyen, Thai Dai Van	CZE	2668	1,5	5	0,75
	14	GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	UZB	2659	1,5	5	0,75
8	3	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	AZE	2623	1	0	1,00
9	4	GM	Gurel, Ediz	TUR	2624	1	0	0,00
10	8	GM	Nogerbek, Kazybek	KAZ	2514	0,5	0	0,75
11	1	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2490	0,5	0	0,75
12	13	IM	Pijpers, Arthur	NED	2474	0,5	0	0,50
13	6	IM	Oro, Faustino	ARG	2447	0	0	0,00
	11	IM	Bulmaga, Irina	ROU	2386	0	0	0,00

Details

Round 3 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	2	2668	GM	Nguyen, Thai Dai Van		GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	2659	14
2	3	2623	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin		IM	Divya, Deshmukh	2490	1
3	4	2624	GM	Gurel, Ediz		IM	Pijpers, Arthur	2474	13
4	5	2614	GM	L'Ami, Erwin		GM	Bok, Benjamin	2583	12
5	6	2447	IM	Oro, Faustino		IM	Bulmaga, Irina	2386	11
6	7	2429	IM	Lu, Miaoyi		GM	Svane, Frederik	2664	10
7	8	2514	GM	Nogerbek, Kazybek		GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2476	9

Details

Time Control

100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds increment for each move starting from the first move.

Links

Official site

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