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Praggnanandhaa Climbs, Abdusattorov Misses, Gukesh Still Leads
Praggnanandhaa won the Game of the Day against Caruana. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess.

Praggnanandhaa Climbs, Abdusattorov Misses, Gukesh Still Leads

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| 46 | Chess Event Coverage

There were four decisive games in round 11 of the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters, three of them won by Indian grandmasters with the black pieces. The smoke has cleared, and World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju is still in the sole lead. 

GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov came inches away from co-leading, but he didn't land a killer blow against GM Vincent Keymer, who managed to escape into an opposite-color bishop endgame and draw. Gukesh drew against last year's winner GM Wei Yi, while GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu scored a critical victory with the black pieces against GM Fabiano Caruana in our Game of the Day. The other two decisive games were GM Pentala Harikrishna's win (against GM Alexey Sarana) and GM Leon Mendonca scoring his first win in the Masters (against GM Vladimir Fedoseev).

Just like in the previous round, there were just two draws and five wins in the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Challengers. GM Erwin l'Ami has taken over the sole lead after defeating IM Lu Miaoyi; at the same time GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen, who had led since round eight, lost to GM Frederik Svane. Van Nguyen is a half-point behind the leader, along with GM Aydin Suleymanli, who scored his fifth victory, against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu.

Round 12 starts on Saturday, February 1, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CET / 6:30 p.m. IST.


Masters: Pragg Keeps Title Hopes Alive, Abdusattorov Slips, Gukesh Coasts

Tata Steel Chess Masters: Round 11 Results

The majority of games were decisive on Friday, with Praggnanandhaa jumping a half-point closer to the lead. There were just three draws, with four wins.

Of the other three players who won, Giri is the closest to the leader but still two full points away. Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov are still in the running, and the latter could have joined the lead on 8 points if not for a fateful misstep. 

Tata Steel Chess Masters: Standings After Round 11

Gukesh ½-½ Wei

The world champion, who's led the tournament since round nine, faced last year's winner, Chinese number-one Wei. It was a cagey encounter where neither side took much risk. A sharp opening quickly petered out.

Gukesh, still on top. Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess.

Gukesh came with the opening surprise 6.Nbd2, which GM Ian Nepomniachtchi has championed in a handful of fast games, including the last game against GM Magnus Carlsen in the 2024 FIDE World Blitz Championship. Wei admitted he was on his own: "I was out of theory after this move."

Things got sharp after the energetic 9.d4N Bg4, and both players spent about 40 minutes each on their 10th move. Nevertheless, all the tension dissipated with mass trades starting on move 12, and neither player was at risk of losing from there on out.

The Chinese grandmaster is still undefeated, but it's been 10 draws and one win. He felt "disappointed because I made so many draws, it's not my style. Of course, my opponents are strong," he said.

Gukesh, who lost a little less than one rating point for the draw, nevertheless moved on to leapfrog Caruana and become the world number-three.

He can thank his countryman Praggnanandhaa, who scored with Black in the day's most dynamic game... 

Caruana 0-1 Praggnanandhaa

...though, at 7.5 points, Praggnanandhaa is a bit too close for comfort for Gukesh. Pragg has now gained the most rating points of anyone in the Masters, leaping 18.2 points higher.

Praggnanandhaa beat the top seed. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess.

Caruana, on the previous day, missed endgame chances to win against Harikrishna, and presumably looking to redeem that miss, came gunning for Praggnanandhaa. The American castled long in the Queen's Gambit Declined, showing his intentions early: let's fight.

The position after 11.0-0-0.

But the Indian grandmaster, and now world number-eight, wasn't even surprised: "I looked at this Bd6 today morning and 0-0-0 is a very interesting idea. It looks just like White will mate... but the computer prefers Black in this position."

Asked by WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni how he assessed the ensuing madness, with both sides attacking on opposite sides, he responded, "Honestly, I couldn't evaluate properly. I just kept playing active moves and hoped that it would be fine for me."

I just kept playing active moves and hoped that it would be fine for me.

—Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

GM Rafael Leitao uncovers all of the tactics in this wild game below.

It's a second consecutive win for Praggnanandhaa after he lost in round nine, and on Saturday he'll play Sarana, a player who's lost his last two games. Still, he told Steil-Antoni, every player in this tournament is strong and should not be underestimated. 

Keymer ½-½ Abdusattorov

Abdusattorov, half a point behind the leader, faced a potentially weakened Keymer. The German number-one won his first game, but since then he had lost three games and only drawn the rest.

Abdusattorov drew blood but couldn't finish his opponent off. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess.

Keymer's 28.h4? was the move that gave Abdusattorov a golden opportunity. Commentator IM Jovanka Houska said of this move, "It's the one moment that I think Vincent will really regret. Advancing that pawn, weakening his king, and it looked like such a natural move."

Advancing that pawn, weakening his king, and it looked like such a natural move.

—Jovanka Houska

The Uzbek number-one started with all the right moves, finding 28...e5! and 30...Bxc5!, but move 31 was a crossroads. 31...Rd3, as played, was natural and very good for Black, but 31...g5!! would have won directly. He only threw away the win objectively, however, on move 38, when he spent 40 seconds of his 10 minutes and played 38...Qe7?, allowing a queen trade.

Abdusattorov will have the black pieces next against a spiraling GM Arjun Erigaisi, who's dropped 33 rating points in this tournament. 

Fedoseev 0-1 Mendonca

Fedoseev was 1.5 points off the leader and potentially in the mix before this round. He faced a struggling Mendonca, who had four losses and zero wins.

"I'm just happy to win a game," said Mendonca at the start of the interview, later adding, "I was just relieved mainly that I finally managed to play a decent game and win against someone who's playing reasonably well in the tournament."

I'm just happy to win a game.

—Leon Mendonca

Fedoseev came with the novelty, 8.Bc3N, in the Catalan Opening, but the Indian grandmaster neutralized it. In the endgame that arose, Fedoseev got nothing, and on move 27 failed to find an incredible defense, one that his opponent saw. 27.Rd1! with the idea of sacrificing the bishop 27...Rc2 28.Bb5!, gaining connected passed pawns, would have held the balance.

Instead, 27.Be2? very quickly lost an exchange.

Giri 1-0 Warmerdam

Giri won his second game of the tournament, against his countryman Warmerdam. 

This win leaves Giri on 6/11, two points behind the leader. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess.

A sterile Italian Opening transitioned into an opposite-color bishop endgame with all four rooks, but danger still lurked around the corner. The critical moment was move 25, when Warmerdam chose the wrong square for his bishop, 25.Bg6?. They signed the scoresheets 13 moves later.

Sarana 0-1 Harikrishna

Harikrishna survived a complicated, and objectively lost, rook endgame against Caruana on the previous day. In this game, he outplayed his younger opponent in a Queen's Gambit Accepted type of symmetrical pawn structure.

He explained, "I'm quite happy with my play. It appeared like I was not progressing, but on the other hand the position is such that I have to take my time and improve slowly."

26...Ba4!, a move Sarana either "missed or misevaluated" (Harikrishna), was a nifty, out-of-the-blue tactic that won the exchange and the game. 

Van Foreest ½-½ Arjun

GM Jorden van Foreest against Arjun was the first game to have fireworks, but it was also the first game to end. The Dutchman sacrificed a pawn early in the Nimzo-Indian Defense and, for the first nine moves, they followed a game that was just played this year. But when Arjun found (or remembered) the excellent ...Ba6!, it petered out.

Gukesh will face Van Foreest in round 12 and Arjun in round 13.

Round 12 Pairings

As for the other two title-contenders, Praggnanandhaa will play Sarana and then Keymer; Abdusattorov will face Arjun and then Harikrishna.

Challengers: L'Ami Takes Sole Lead

Like in the Masters, Black won all but one of the decisive games. The most critical, in terms of who will qualify for the Masters, were the wins by L'Ami, Svane, and Suleymanli.

Tata Steel Chess Challengers: Round 11 Results

It's a very close race, now that the leader has lost, with two rounds to go. Besides the three leaders, Svane and GM Benjamin Bok hang close on seven points.

Tata Steel Chess Challengers: Standings After Round 11

GM Nodirbek Yakubboev won a one-sided game against the 11-year-old hopeful IM Faustino Oro, who's gaining experience playing against strong grandmasters. Perhaps it was good karma for the Uzbek GM, after he apologized (with flowers and chocolates) to Vaishali on the rest day (see video below). A few rounds ago, he declined to shake hands with her for religious reasons, and it seems to be water under the bridge now.

Elsewhere, IM Irina Bulmaga's exotic treatment of the French Defense, on the white side, got brutally burned by IM Divya Deshmukh, who scored her second victory of the event.

It had been six losses and one draw since Divya's last win. Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit/Tata Steel Chess.

That leave us with the three most critical wins, in terms of who will win the event. 

Vaishali mustered an intimidating attack against Suleymanli's Sicilian Dragon, but by the time the queens were traded on move 28, Vaishali was under a minute against 19. The 19-year-old Azerbaijani grandmaster took over in the endgame, though the clock situation was a large part of it as Vaishali tumbled to her second consecutive loss.

Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess.

Suleymanli's focusing only on his own games from here on out, he said. "I don't care about how other guys with my points play. I only care about my game because, even if they all lost, if I don't do anything, nothing will happen."

I don't care about how other guys with my points play.

—Aydin Suleymanli

The encounter between leader Van Nguyen and Svane was high-level, with 98 percent accuracy from White and 90 percent from Black. There really was just one serious mistake in the game, and it occurred on move 42.

"It's good to win against such a strong opponent from a quite equal-ish middlegame," said Svane. His opponent offered a draw on move 30, but "I found this miracle with Nf5 that keeps the game going somehow."

Svane took down the leader. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess.

The most important mistake of the game was 42...Nxe3?, trading directly into a losing rook endgame. Svane guessed his opponent may have missed 46.Ra2! three moves later, which was the only winning move.

It's a second win in a row for Svane, who has an outside chance of contending for first. He said, "My chances are very slim, but okay, winning two in a row now is of course pretty nice after a pretty bad tournament before that." 

As for the current leader, he was under great pressure in the opening against the 14-year-old Chinese prodigy. She sacrificed two pawns out of the opening and gained a 30-minute time advantage by move 13 as her opponent sank into thought.


L'Ami, however, emerged from the complications up a pawn in a heavy-piece endgame. White could still have held with precise play, but after 46.Qd3? e4!, the oldest player in the Challengers section sailed to a victorious rook endgame.

L'Ami, back in business. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess.

L'Ami plays GM Kazybek Nogerbek with White in the next round, and then Vaishali in the last. As for his closest rivals, Van Nguyen plays Bulmaga (in last place) and then Bok; Suleymanli takes on Svane and then Bulmaga.

Round 12 Pairings


How To Watch

You can watch the tournament on the Chess24 YouTube or Twitch channels, while GM Hikaru Nakamura is also streaming on his Kick channel. You can also check out the games on our dedicated events page.
IM Jovanka Houska and GM David Howell hosted the broadcast.

The 87th edition of Tata Steel Chess takes place January 18-February 2, 2025, in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. The time control is 100 minutes for 40 moves followed by 50 minutes to finish each game, with a 30-second increment from move one. Both the Masters and Challengers groups are 14-player round-robin tournaments.

Previous coverage:

AnthonyLevin
NM Anthony Levin

NM Anthony Levin caught the chess bug at the "late" age of 18 and never turned back. He earned his national master title in 2021, actually the night before his first day of work at Chess.com.

Anthony, who also earned his Master's in teaching English in 2018, taught English and chess in New York schools for five years and strives to make chess content accessible and enjoyable for people of all ages. At Chess.com, he writes news articles and manages social media for chess24.

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