Tata Steel 2025 R3: Praggnanandhaa wins two in-a-row, Gukesh draws with Caruana

by Shahid Ahmed - 21/01/2025

R Praggnanandhaa won his second consecutive in the third round of 87th Tata Steel Masters 2025. This time he outplayed his 45th Olympiad Gold medal winning teammate, Arjun Erigaisi. Praggnanandhaa was surprised that his opponent went for a line which traded queens early. However, in the endgame Arjun made a few inaccuracies which cost him the game. This win brought Praggnanandhaa back to World no.10 in the live ratings. D Gukesh drew with the World no.2, Fabiano Caruana (USA). Leon Luke Mendonca made his first point of the event as he had a well contested draw against Pentala Harikrishna. Round 4 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST for both Masters and Challengers section. Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Challengers: White wins all seven

All seven games of the Challengers section ended decisively. They all went in favor of the players with the white pieces.

R Praggnanandhaa is an early coleader with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) 2.5/3 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Praggnanandhaa - Arjun: 1-0

Arjun Erigaisi (2801) won the last Classical game against R Praggnanandhaa (2741) at WR Masters last year after they won Gold at 45th Olympiad. Praggnanandhaa was shocked to see Arjun opting a line in the Open Catalan which traded queens as early as seventh move.

Position after 14...Bc6

Praggnanandhaa mentioned in the post-game interview that Black's position already started getting unpleasant after 14...Bc6. 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Nd3 Be7 17.Be3 was kind of important. He felt that b3 and c3-pawns were the main problems. Once he consolidates, then he will have a better pawn structure. Black was threatening Ne4, Bf6 to attack on c3.

Position after 25.Ke1

Black should have started with 23...a5 to get an extra tempo instead of 23...Rb7. Praggnanandhaa felt that 25...Kd6? was definitely an inaccuracy. He should have gone 25...Rba7 and then maybe later Kd6 because it allowed white to maneuver his knight to b5 via c1-a2-c3.

Position after 38...Rfa8?

Black's last mistake was 38...Rfa8? 39.Nb5 Ra6 40.Nd6+ and it's over. After the fall of f7-pawn, Black does not have much to go on.

Interview with R Praggnanandhaa | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

R Praggnanandhaa defeated his Gold medal winning Olympiad teammate Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

D Gukesh - Fabiano Caruana, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Interview with D Gukesh | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

D Gukesh - Fabiano Caruana (USA): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Leon Luke Mendonca - Pentala Harikrishna: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Interview with Vincent Keymer | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Interview with IM Faustino Oro (ARG) | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Round 3 recap | Video: ChessBase India

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

Replay Round 3 Masters games

Replay Round 3 Challengers games

Round 3 results

Masters

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

Details

Standings after Round 3

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

Details

Round 4 pairings

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

Details

Challengers

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

Details

Standings after Round 3

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

Details

Round 4 pairings

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

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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