Sindarov Catches Abdusattorov, Niemann Climbs To 2nd
GM Javokhir Sindarov has joined his compatriot GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the 2026 Tata Steel Chess Masters lead on 7/11 after winning a pawn and grinding out a win against GM Arjun Erigaisi. GM Hans Niemann joins a three-way tie half a point behind the leaders after defeating GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen, while there were also spectacular wins for GM Anish Giri, over GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, and for GM Vincent Keymer, over GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk continues to shake things up in the 2026 Tata Steel Chess Challengers, beating the leader for a second day in a row. In round 11 that meant taking down GM Aydin Suleymanli, while GM Andy Woodward took the chance to regain the sole lead with two rounds to go by beating GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi.
Round 12 starts on Saturday, January 31, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CET / 6:30 p.m. IST.
- Masters: Sindarov Catches Leader As Niemann, Giri, Keymer Also Win
- Challengers: Woodward Regains Sole Lead As Ivanchuk Beats Leader
Masters: Sindarov Catches Leader As Niemann, Giri, Keymer Also Win
We got our standard four wins for the day in the Masters, though for a very long time, GM Gukesh Dommaraju had looked set to add a fifth by beating GM Aravindh Chithambaram.
Tata Steel Masters: Round 11 Results
That meant Abdusattorov was finally caught, by Sindarov, while Niemann joins GMs Jorden van Foreest and Matthias Bluebaum just half a point behind.
Tata Steel Masters: Standings After Round 11
The top game of round 11 was Van Foreest's chance to leapfrog into first place as he took on Abdusattorov, but the Uzbek leader calmly shut things down to make a draw.
That was a chance for him to be caught by one of the players who had started the day in second place, and while Bluebaum never came close in a 66-move draw against GM Vladimir Fedoseev, Sindarov did seize his chance.
Arjun 0-1 Sindarov
Arjun scored a stunning 10.5/13 to win the Challengers on his first appearance in Wijk aan Zee in 2022, but his experience in the Masters has been almost unending pain. In 2023 he lost 21.4 points, in 2025 he lost 24.3 (despite beating Abdusattorov and Gukesh in the last two games), and this year he's now lost 23.6 points after following a first-round win over Praggnanandhaa with four defeats. That makes it 69.3 rating points dropped in this elite event.
It's not that the Arjun we know and love is entirely absent. He tested Sindarov in a tricky sideline and then found long sequences of strong moves. Even when a move-40 mistake seemed to make defeat inevitable, he fought on so that Sindarov got a scare before he finally managed to emerge on top.
"Now I have all the chances to fight for first place!" said Sindarov, though he did add, "For me it’s more of a training tournament before the Candidates, and I’m just trying to play with this time control and learn something for my main tournament."
The other player to place himself in real contention for the title going into the final two games is Niemann, who joined the tie for second place with a win over the struggling Van Nguyen.
Van Nguyen 0-1 Niemann
"My play has been very solid," said Niemann, who's now scored three wins and suffered just one defeat, though he admitted his win in round 11 was anything but solid.
"I was taking a huge gamble, but look at his time—he’s got two minutes for 10 moves," explained Niemann, who had almost 50 minutes more on the clock when the game entered its critical moments.
Niemann summed up the game: "Perhaps only someone as delusional as me could have the vision of this working out so well. It was incredibly fortunate, but obviously this time control is unforgiving, and he collapsed."
Perhaps only someone as delusional as me could have the vision of this working out so well.
—Hans Niemann
The only other player within a point of the leader is Keymer, whose ninth decisive game in this year's event went in his favor.
Praggnanandhaa 0-1 Keymer
"Losing four games is very bad, winning five is very good," was how Keymer summarized his tournament after beating Indian stars Arjun and now Praggnanandhaa in consecutive rounds. The German number-one came up with an opening novelty that he said "looks very stupid," though it wasn't, and he soon had a good position, but Praggnanandhaa demonstrated great resourcefulness with a double knight sac.
That one couldn't be taken without allowing a quick checkmate.
Praggnanandhaa's clock handling looked fatal in a difficult position, but in fact he made move 40 with a defendable position, somewhat to Keymer's surprise.
Keymer is shocked when Praggnanandhaa gets up from the board—but Pragg had counted correctly and had made the time control at move 40! https://t.co/0ScQ1hdWxf pic.twitter.com/lqyokJ8aia
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 30, 2026
When Praggnanandhaa didn't swap off pieces when given the chance, however, he sank without a trace in the ending.
The other player to grab a win was local star Giri, who overcame Erdogmus.
Giri 1-0 Erdogmus
When Giri was asked about all the decisive games, he explained that in the past the top players would just make draws against each other since they could rely on beating the outsiders. That's no longer so easy, so the players have adapted:
Now the top players turn on each other. Initially I was offended by that. I felt like they’re turning on me. What’s wrong with me, why am I being targeted? But then I realized they’re turning on each other too.... It’s probably the most fun time to play classical top tournaments in my personal career span.
It's probably the most fun time to play classical top tournaments in my personal career span.
—Anish Giri
In this game Giri, the oldest participant in the Masters, beat the youngest, with the 14-year-old Turkish prodigy again struggling on the clock. Erdogmus' position was still defensible until 23...Ba6? (one square too far) allowed the blow 24.Nxf7!.
That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.
It hasn't been the tournament and certainly wasn't the day for the top Indian stars, with Gukesh failing to convert an advantage against Aravindh and even suffering the fate of having to defend a slightly worse position at the end.
The cleanest win would have been truly beautiful if it had been found, however!
In Saturday's penultimate round Abdusattorov-Bluebaum, Sindarov-Praggnanandhaa, Niemann-Gukesh, and Van Foreest-Arjun can all be significant in the battle for first place.
Challengers: Woodward Regains Sole Lead As Ivanchuk Beats Leader
Both games at the top of the Challengers were decisive, IM Faustino Oro got back to winning ways, and IM Carissa Yip left herself needing to score 1.5 points in the remaining two games for a third and final GM norm.
Tata Steel Challengers: Round 11 Results
After being knocked out of the sole lead a day earlier, Woodward returned with a win over Maurizzi, while Ivanchuk beat and joined Suleymanli half a point behind.
Tata Steel Challengers: Standings After Round 11
Ivanchuk did it again by beating the leader in the Challengers, and is on a roll, scoring 5.5/6 in his latest games.
When WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni suggested Ivanchuk has learned to handle the time control without increment, the Ukrainian legend responded, "Yes, I’m ready to play in the Candidates Tournament!"
Yes, I'm ready to play in the Candidates Tournament!
—Vasyl Ivanchuk
Alas, that will have to wait, but Ivanchuk is very much in the hunt for a place in next year's Masters after beating Suleymanli. It was a convincing win on the black side of a Sicilian, even if Suleymanli could have made a miraculous escape at one point.
That defeat for the leader meant everything rested on the clash of the players who started the day half a point behind, Woodward and Maurizzi. A 22-move shocker returned Woodward to the top of the standings with two rounds to go.
Elsewhere IM Carissa Yip kept hopes alive of scoring her third and final GM norm as she convincingly beat IM Eline Roebers with the black pieces, and IM Faustino Oro scored a first win in six games, giving little chance to GM Daniil Yuffa. As he put it, "Super happy, my second win in this tournament against a 2600!"
That sets up Ivanchuk-Oro on Saturday nicely, while Ivic-Woodward and Maurizzi-Suleymanli will also be huge in the race to win the event and qualify for the 2027 Masters.
The 88th edition of Tata Steel Chess takes place January 17-February 1, 2026, in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. Both the Masters and Challengers groups are 14-player round-robin tournaments. The time control is 120 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes to the end of the game, with a 30-second increment only from move 41. No draw offers are allowed before move 40.
Previous coverage:
- Round 10: Bluebaum Joins 2700 Club As Gukesh, Keymer Bounce Back
- Round 9: Erdogmus, Van Foreest Climb To 2nd As Bluebaum Beats Gukesh
- Round 8: Giri Beats Leader Abdusattorov As Gukesh Bounces Back
- Round 7: Abdusattorov Grows Lead As Giri Beats Gukesh
- Round 6: Abdusattorov Pounces On Gukesh's Blunder To Grab Sole Lead
- Round 5: Sindarov Catches Leaders As Gukesh, Keymer, Fedoseev Also Strike
- Round 4: Niemann Sacs Queen To Lead Tata Steel Chess With Abdusattorov
- Round 3: Van Foreest, Bluebaum Beat Giri, Keymer To Join 5-Way Tie For Lead
- Round 2: Abdusattorov Beats Praggnanandhaa; Lu Miaoyi Takes Sole Lead In Challengers
- Round 1: Sindarov Denies Gukesh As Niemann, Keymer, Arjun Pounce On Blunders
- Tata Steel Chess 2026: All The Information
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
