Tata Steel 2025 R9: Gukesh outplays Leon, emerges sole leader
D Gukesh defeated his compatriot, Leon Luke Mendonca in Round 9 of 87th Tata Steel Masters 2025 to gain sole lead 6.5/9. The world champion shared that he did not show anything special in the opening. However, a few positional inaccuracies by his opponent, allowed him to seize his advantage and outplay him. Gukesh's coleader, R Praggnanandhaa suffered his first loss of the event against Anish Giri (NED). Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) drew with World no.2, Fabiano Caruana (USA). Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) defeated Pentala Harikrishna to join the chase with Abdusattorov. In the Challengers, IM Divya Deshmukh had a solid draw against GM R Vaishali. Round 10 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: Divya draws with Vaishali
"I am happy that first of all I played a good game today. There are still four rounds left, so I am not thinking much about the standings. Just happy with how I played." - World Champion D Gukesh on his win against Leon Luke Mendonca and becoming the sole leader after Round 9.
Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) is having a great tournament. He scored his fourth win over Pentala Harikrishna to stay a half point behind the sole leader at 6/9 with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) maintains his sole lead 6.5/9 in the Challengers section, after a draw with the reigning World Junior champion, GM Kazybek Nogerbek (KAZ).
Gukesh - Leon: 1-0
The only time Leon Luke Mendonca (2639) defeated D Gukesh (2777) was over a decade ago in their formative years at World Under-8 in 2014. After that, they played two Classical rated games and Gukesh won both of them. The last battle occurred in July 2023 in a team event in Turkiye. The world champion mentioned in the post-game interview that he did not show anything special in the opening.
In the above position, Gukesh thought that 17...bxa4 was better for Black. It was a complex position. Optically it looks like double bishop and White has the open f-file with kingside weakness but Black is just solid with his pawn structure and it's not very easy to do anything. The game continued 17...c5 18.axb5 axb5 19.b4 cxb4 20.cxb4 Gukesh was happy to get this as the queenside is stable and he always has d4 plans.
23.Qa1 Gukesh felt that it was a cool idea to target e5. Black cannot take on e4 as there were a few tricks. 23...Bxe4?? 24.dxe5+- dxe5 25.Bxe4 Nxe4 26.Nxe5 is one of the lines. 23...Nxe4 also does not work due to 24.Bxe4 Bxe4 25.dxe5+-
After 25.Nd2 Gukesh thought that his opponent should have taken on d4. He wanted to take Qxd4 in the scenario. He felt that 26...Ne5 is not that bad for Black. The game continued 25...Rf8 26.Bc2 Nh5 27.Be1 Nf6 White was very happy to get 28.Rf5 threatening Bg3 so that e5-pawn is again loose. White slowly converted his advantage into a win.
Jorden - Max
There is an intermediate move which would given Jorden van Foreest (NED, 2680) a decisive advantage against Max Warmerdam (NED, 2646). Find out what White missed after 23...Nxc3?? White played 24.bxc3? Qe8 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 26.Qg5+ Kh8 27.Qf6+ Kg8 and the game ended in a draw via perpetual check.
Giri - Praggnanandhaa: 1-0
R Praggnanandhaa (2741) had never lost a Classical rated game against Anish Giri (NED, 2731) until yesterday.
Computer recommends 29...Nb6 and Rae8 to be fine for Black. 29...f6? weakens Black's pawn structure and Black's pieces remain uncoordinated. 30.cxb7 Qxb7 31.Qc7 Nf8 32.Qxb7 Rxb7 33.Bc3 Rd8? 34.Ba5+- White just went on to outplay his opponent after a few more positional mistakes by Black.
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 9 Masters games
Replay Round 9 Challengers games
Round 9 results
Masters
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 2751 | GM | Wei, Yi | ½ - ½ | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2801 | 14 | |
| 2 | 6 | 2680 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | ½ - ½ | GM | Warmerdam, Max | 2646 | 4 | |
| 3 | 7 | 2777 | GM | Gukesh, D | 1 - 0 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2639 | 3 | |
| 4 | 8 | 2731 | GM | Giri, Anish | 1 - 0 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2741 | 2 | |
| 5 | 9 | 2717 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 1 - 0 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | 2695 | 1 | |
| 6 | 10 | 2803 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | ½ - ½ | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2768 | 13 | |
| 7 | 11 | 2677 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | ½ - ½ | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2733 | 12 |
Standings after Round 9
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2777 | 6,5 | 0 | 28,25 |
| 2 | 13 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | UZB | 2768 | 6 | 0 | 25,75 |
| 3 | 9 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | SLO | 2717 | 6 | 0 | 25,25 |
| 4 | 2 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2741 | 5,5 | 0 | 21,25 |
| 5 | 11 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | SRB | 2677 | 5 | 0 | 23,00 |
| 6 | 10 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | USA | 2803 | 5 | 0 | 21,75 |
| 7 | 5 | GM | Wei, Yi | CHN | 2751 | 5 | 0 | 20,50 |
| 8 | 8 | GM | Giri, Anish | NED | 2731 | 4,5 | 0 | 21,50 |
| 9 | 1 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | IND | 2695 | 4 | 0 | 13,75 |
| 10 | 6 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | NED | 2680 | 3,5 | 0 | 15,00 |
| 11 | 12 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | GER | 2733 | 3,5 | 0 | 13,25 |
| 12 | 4 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | NED | 2646 | 3,5 | 0 | 12,50 |
| 13 | 14 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2801 | 2,5 | 0 | 11,00 |
| 14 | 3 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | IND | 2639 | 2,5 | 0 | 9,25 |
Round 10 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 2801 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2733 | 12 | ||
| 2 | 13 | 2768 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2677 | 11 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 2695 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2803 | 10 | ||
| 4 | 2 | 2741 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2717 | 9 | ||
| 5 | 3 | 2639 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | GM | Giri, Anish | 2731 | 8 | ||
| 6 | 4 | 2646 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | GM | Gukesh, D | 2777 | 7 | ||
| 7 | 5 | 2751 | GM | Wei, Yi | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | 2680 | 6 |
Challengers
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 2614 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | ½ - ½ | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2659 | 14 | |
| 2 | 6 | 2447 | IM | Oro, Faustino | 0 - 1 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | 2624 | 4 | |
| 3 | 7 | 2429 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | ½ - ½ | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 2623 | 3 | |
| 4 | 8 | 2514 | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | ½ - ½ | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | 2668 | 2 | |
| 5 | 9 | 2476 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | ½ - ½ | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | 2490 | 1 | |
| 6 | 10 | 2664 | GM | Svane, Frederik | ½ - ½ | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | 2474 | 13 | |
| 7 | 11 | 2386 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | 0 - 1 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | 2583 | 12 |
Standings after Round 9
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | CZE | 2668 | 6,5 | 0 | 27,50 |
| 2 | 5 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2614 | 6 | 1 | 24,00 |
| 3 | 12 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2583 | 6 | 2 | 24,00 |
| 4 | 3 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | AZE | 2623 | 5,5 | 0 | 23,00 |
| 5 | 8 | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | KAZ | 2514 | 5,5 | 0 | 20,75 |
| 6 | 7 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | CHN | 2429 | 5 | 1 | 20,00 |
| 7 | 9 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2476 | 5 | 2 | 18,25 |
| 8 | 10 | GM | Svane, Frederik | GER | 2664 | 5 | 3 | 18,75 |
| 9 | 4 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | TUR | 2624 | 5 | 4 | 17,75 |
| 10 | 14 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | UZB | 2659 | 4,5 | 0 | 16,75 |
| 11 | 13 | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | NED | 2474 | 3,5 | 0 | 17,25 |
| 12 | 6 | IM | Oro, Faustino | ARG | 2447 | 2,5 | 0 | 4,75 |
| 13 | 1 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | IND | 2490 | 2 | 0 | 10,75 |
| 14 | 11 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | ROU | 2386 | 1 | 0 | 5,00 |
Round 10 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 2659 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | GM | Bok, Benjamin | 2583 | 12 | ||
| 2 | 13 | 2474 | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | 2386 | 11 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 2490 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | GM | Svane, Frederik | 2664 | 10 | ||
| 4 | 2 | 2668 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2476 | 9 | ||
| 5 | 3 | 2623 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | 2514 | 8 | ||
| 6 | 4 | 2624 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | 2429 | 7 | ||
| 7 | 5 | 2614 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | IM | Oro, Faustino | 2447 | 6 |
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.
