Tata Steel 2025 R7: Gukesh beats Harikrishna, joins the lead with Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa

by Shahid Ahmed - 26/01/2025

D Gukesh defeated Pentala Harikrishna to join the lead with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) and R Praggnanandhaa at 87th Tata Steel Masters 2025. The world champion and his second in winning the crown, did not manage to surprise each other in the opening as they were well-prepared. In the middlegame, Gukesh found some nice resource, combining with the fact that his opponent's inaccuracy, allowed him to convert his advantage comfortably. Leon Luke Mendonca drew with the defending champion Wei Yi (CHN). R Praggnanandhaa shared the point with Jorden van Foreest (NED). Arjun Erigaisi's tough form continues as he went down against Max Warmerdam (NED). In the Challengers, R Vaishali drew with Benjamin Bok (NED). Round 8 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

Leon makes a solid draw against Wei Yi

"I think we both didn't manage to surprise each other because I think he was prepared and I also was aware of this line but I just couldn't remember the details. So I guess nobody really..." - Gukesh on whether him or his opponent, Pentala Harikrishna managed to surprise each other in the opening.

D Gukesh defeated his 45th Olympiad Gold medalist teammate - Pentala Harikrishna to join the lead and make it three-way | Photo: Jurrian Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Abdusattorov, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa are currently leading with a score 5/7 each. Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) is trailing by a half point at 4.5/7. In the Challengers section, Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) joined the lead with Erwin L'Ami (NED) at 5/7. GM Benjamin Bok (NED) and IM Miaoyi Lu (CHN) are at 4.5/7 each.

Gukesh - Harikrishna: 1-0

Pentala Harikrishna (2695) was one of the seconds of D Gukesh (2777) for the World Championship Match. Before that they were the Gold medal winning teammates at the 45th Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary. The only Classical rated game played between them ended in a draw at Chennai Grand Masters 2023. Harikrishna opted for the French Defense, Gukesh chose the Advance variation.

Position after 12.g4

Both players considered 12...Ncxd4 13.gxf5 Nxf3 14.fxe6 fxe6 15.Nxd5 exd5 16.Bxf3 Bf5 17.Be3 Gukesh thought this to be at least unclear. The game continued 12...Nfe7 13.Be3 h5 White thought that he should be better after 14.g5. 14...Nf5 The world champion got excited and played 15.g6 because of fxg6 16.Rg1 idea as it looks crushing. "After 15...f6 it was surprisingly it was not easy to prove anything.

Position after 28.Rc5

28.Rc5 was an important resource which Gukesh felt he was lucky to find because 28...Bxe3?? is met by 29.Qb7+-. The game continued 28...Rxc5 29.Nxc5 he felt that Black's best defence was to go Rb8. 29...Nxe3?? 30.Qb7 Bg7 31.Re1 and White went on to convert his advantage comfortably.

D Gukesh - Pentala Harikrishna, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Interview with D Gukesh | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Gukesh en route his victory against Pentala Harikrishna | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Wei Yi (CHN) - Leon Luke Mendonca: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Fabiano Caruana (USA) - Alexey Sarana (SRB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Jorden van Foreest (NED) - R Praggnanandhaa: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) - Anish Giri (NED): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) - Vincent Keymer (GER): 1-0 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Interview with Max Warmerdam | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Arjun Erigaisi suffered his fourth loss of the event, this time against Max Warmerdam (NED) | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Fabiano Caruana (USA) - Alexey Sarana (SRB): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Challengers: GM R Vaishali - GM Benjamin Bok (NED): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025

Thai Dai van Nguyen co-leader after win over Oro | Video: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

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

Replay Round 7 Masters games

Replay Round 7 Challengers games

Round 7 results

Masters

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

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	13	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	UZB	2768	5	1	15,75
2	7	GM	Gukesh, D	IND	2777	5	2	18,00
3	2	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	IND	2741	5	2	14,00
4	9	GM	Fedoseev, Vladimir	SLO	2717	4,5	0	13,25
5	11	GM	Sarana, Alexey	SRB	2677	4	0	14,75
6	5	GM	Wei, Yi	CHN	2751	3,5	1	13,00
7	10	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	USA	2803	3,5	2	11,00
8	1	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	IND	2695	3,5	2	8,50
9	12	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2733	3	1	8,00
10	8	GM	Giri, Anish	NED	2731	3	2	10,75
11	4	GM	Warmerdam, Max	NED	2646	3	2	8,50
12	6	GM	Van Foreest, Jorden	NED	2680	2,5	0	10,00
13	3	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2639	2	0	5,75
14	14	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2801	1,5	0	4,25

Details

Round 8 pairings

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

Details

Challengers

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

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2	GM	Nguyen, Thai Dai Van	CZE	2668	5	0	15,00
2	5	GM	L'Ami, Erwin	NED	2614	5	0	14,75
3	12	GM	Bok, Benjamin	NED	2583	4,5	1	16,50
4	7	IM	Lu, Miaoyi	CHN	2429	4,5	2	13,25
5	8	GM	Nogerbek, Kazybek	KAZ	2514	4	1	12,00
6	10	GM	Svane, Frederik	GER	2664	4	2	11,50
7	9	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2476	4	3	12,50
8	3	GM	Suleymanli, Aydin	AZE	2623	4	4	13,50
9	4	GM	Gurel, Ediz	TUR	2624	3,5	0	9,00
10	14	GM	Yakubboev, Nodirbek	UZB	2659	3	0	9,50
11	13	IM	Pijpers, Arthur	NED	2474	2,5	0	10,00
12	6	IM	Oro, Faustino	ARG	2447	2,5	0	3,75
13	1	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2490	1,5	0	6,00
14	11	IM	Bulmaga, Irina	ROU	2386	1	0	4,25

Details

Round 8 pairings

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

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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