Abdusattorov Beats Praggnanandhaa; Lu Miaoyi Takes Sole Lead In Challengers
GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov won a pawn and ground down GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in 60 moves to join GMs Hans Niemann and Arjun Erigaisi in the early 2026 Tata Steel Chess Masters lead on 1.5/2. The day's only other winner was GM Vladimir Fedoseev, who bounced back from his 16-move loss to defeat top seed GM Vincent Keymer. 14-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus had winning chances in a wild game against GM Aravindh Chithambaram, while GM Javokhir Sindarov twice let a win slip against GM Anish Giri, with both players breaking out in laughter during the game.
15-year-old Lu Miaoyi leads the 2026 Tata Steel Chess Challengers on a perfect 2/2 after emerging on top despite wild swings in time trouble against FM Panesar Vedant. IMs Carissa Yip and Faustino Oro joined the players half a point back with wins over GMs Erwin l'Ami and Max Warmerdam, respectively. GM Andy Woodward's bounce-back win over IM Eline Roebers meant all three Dutch players had lost for a second day in a row.
Round three starts on Monday, January 19, at 8 a.m. ET/ 14:00 CET / 6:30 p.m. IST.
- Masters: Fedoseev Strikes Back As Abdusattorov Outlasts Praggnanandhaa
- Challengers: Lu Miaoyi Takes Sole Lead
Masters: Fedoseev Strikes Back As Abdusattorov Outlasts Praggnanandhaa
Tata Steel Masters: Round 2 Results
There were just two wins in round two, but plenty of drama on the other boards.
Tata Steel Masters: Standings After Round 2
We now have a three-way tie for first, and defending champion Praggnanandhaa is suffering on 0/2.
| Rank | Title | Name | FED | Rating | Score |
| 1 | GM | Hans Niemann | 2725 | 1.5 | |
| GM | Arjun Erigaisi | 2775 | 1.5 | ||
| GM | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2751 | 1.5 | ||
| 4 | GM | Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | 2658 | 1 | |
| GM | Aravindh Chithambaram | 2700 | 1 | ||
| GM | Vincent Keymer | 2776 | 1 | ||
| GM | Javokhir Sindarov | 2726 | 1 | ||
| GM | Jorden van Foreest | 2703 | 1 | ||
| GM | Thai Dai Van Nguyen | 2656 | 1 | ||
| GM | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2754 | 1 | ||
| GM | Vladimir Fedoseev | 2705 | 1 | ||
| GM | Matthias Bluebaum | 2679 | 1 | ||
| 13 | GM | Anish Giri | 2760 | 0.5 | |
| 14 | GM | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 2758 | 0 |
After the 90-minute delay to round one due to protests outside the venue, we were back on schedule for round two, with Emilia Castelao of the Women in Chess Foundation sounding the gong at two o'clock.
We're back on schedule as Round 2 of #TataSteelChess begins! https://t.co/qejxVOViv1 pic.twitter.com/4Bk3pjrbaA
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2026
It would be another day jam-packed with action, including two knight sacrifices on d5.
They could have produced two wins, but in the end it was only Fedoseev who hit back in style after his first-day debacle. In fact he commented on the sacrifice: "It was in my dreams to play this combination. A knight sacrifice in the center of the board is my favorite tactical theme."
A knight sacrifice in the center of the board is my favorite tactical theme.
—Vladimir Fedoseev
Fedoseev 1-0 Keymer
Fedoseev admitted he'd been hit hard by his round-one loss, telling WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, "After yesterday, after such games, you always ask questions to yourself like, am I able to play chess at all or not, because to lose in 16 moves is something that it’s hard to recover from."
Fedoseev explained that he felt he wasn't ready for the tournament to begin, particularly after the protests delayed events for 90 minutes and continued noisily outside the venue during the early part of the round. He said of the change in round two:
At least in the playing hall it was quiet, and I felt it’s a chess tournament, not a stadium, like yesterday. I had one of the toughest opponents for such a situation, in the face of Hans Niemann—he’s an actor and he’s always up for such challenges!
Why did Fedoseev resign so early? "Sometimes there is no reason in my opinion to increase the level of pain you have, because it’s the most annoying part of our game!"
In round two, however, it was top-seed Keymer who would suffer and, despite putting up great resistance after the tactical blow, end the game conceding his world number-four spot to Arjun. That's our Game of the Day, which GM Dejan Bojkov has analyzed below.
The only other decisive game in the Masters was a big one, as Abdusattorov overcame Praggnanandhaa.
Abdusattorov 1-0 Praggnanandhaa
Abdusattorov was glad to have beaten Praggnanandhaa in classical chess for the first time "in a while," and noted he'd missed a win against his Indian opponent in the first round of the 2025 Tata Steel Masters. This time it was a second loss in a row for the defending champion, with Abdusattorov commenting:
I think it was very tough for him to play this round after yesterday’s tough loss against Arjun, where he pretty much got a lost position out of the opening.... It was a very different opening, but the outcome was the same!
The sense of deja vu was strengthened by Praggnanandhaa encountering the novelty 9.Nh4 a day after being hit by the novelty 10.Nh4 by Arjun, with Abdusattorov saying, "I got what I wanted out of the opening."
From there Abdusattorov slowly increased the pressure, and although Praggnanandhaa could still have defended with best play, he dropped a pawn and found himself ground down into dust.
Abdusattorov grinds out a win against Praggnanandhaa — Nodirbek joins Hans & Arjun in the lead, while the defending championship has started with 0/2! https://t.co/Szf1TFymw1 pic.twitter.com/B7JYqvqtIp
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2026
Abdusattorov noted he'd watched Wijk aan Zee as a kid and said, "It’s a big dream to win this tournament, and hopefully this year I’ll manage it!"
Praggnanandhaa achieved that dream a year ago, but isn't the only winner to have struggled in the next edition.
He'll be hoping to end the sequence when he takes on GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen in round three, though the 2025 Challengers winner has been impressive so far, drawing against GM Jorden van Foreest in round one and then being the one to press against Arjun in round two.
A draw there meant Abdusattorov became a co-leader, since GM Hans Niemann made the quietest draw of the round, with the black pieces against GM Matthias Bluebaum.
GM Gukesh Dommaraju vs. Van Foreest was sharper but also ended peacefully with the balance never seriously disturbed, with the more difficult challenge for the world champion being to leave the venue.
The World Champion pic.twitter.com/umUJej85Fa
— Peter Doggers (@peterdoggers) January 18, 2026
The remaining two draws were full of incident, however. Giri blundered against Sindarov, but it was only while playing 23...Ne2+? that the Uzbek player realized he could have won a pawn instead. Giri was shocked, and both players saw the funny side right there during the game.
Sindarov fails to punish Giri's blunder — both players see the funny side! https://t.co/Ee7cHoKLW5 pic.twitter.com/C9EU8GhjkS
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2026
What was even more remarkable, however, was that the situation repeated. Giri went astray, this time in a pawn endgame, and would have been dead lost after 41...f6!.
Nothing is easy about calculating such details, but the shock was that Sindarov came to the board and didn't even sit down as he fired off 41...a5?, which let the win slip away.
It happens again, as Sindarov overlooks the winning 41...f6!, instead playing 41...a5? instantly! https://t.co/Ee7cHoKLW5 pic.twitter.com/iV017LhuSp
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2026
Instead of sharing Praggnanandhaa's fate and starting with two losses, Giri was able to get on the scoreboard with a draw.
The final miss came for 14-year-old Erdogmus, who narrowly missed out on winning what his opponent GM Aravindh Chithambaram described as "a crazy game."
Aravindh was largely responsible for that craziness, going for a very offbeat fifth move that Erdogmus felt was something you play only in a game at fast time controls. Aravindh knew exactly what he was doing, reeling off 18 moves of preparation, but his young opponent responded so well that Aravindh feared his prep had leaked!
In the end, however, it all came down to move 25, when Erdogmus, with just over 10 minutes for 15 moves, went for a solid line with 25.b4?!, but instead he needed to put his rook on either h8 or h7 for a win.
Erdogmus afterward put some blame on the time control with no increment before move 40: "I didn’t like it because I was very close to winning this game, but because of the time trouble, I just went for the most solid line, so I couldn’t win the game."
Aravindh, meanwhile, is thrilled to be at the event: "It’s my dream! This is the only tournament I always wanted to be part of, and I’m living my dream. I’m so happy about it."
This is the only tournament I always wanted to be part of, and I'm living my dream!
—Aravindh Chithambaram
Aravindh faces Abdusattorov next.
Challengers: Lu Miaoyi Takes Sole Lead
Once again there were four wins in the Challengers.
Tata Steel Challengers: Round 2 Results
Lu is out in front in the lead, while the three Dutch representatives have yet to pick up a point.
Tata Steel Challengers: Standings After Round 2
| Rank | Title | Name | FED | Rating | Score |
| 1 | IM | Lu Miaoyi | 2431 | 2 | |
| 2 | GM | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 2497 | 1.5 | |
| GM | Aydin Suleymanli | 2628 | 1.5 | ||
| IM | Faustino Oro | 2516 | 1.5 | ||
| IM | Carissa Yip | 2466 | 1.5 | ||
| 6 | GM | Vasyl Ivanchuk | 2605 | 1 | |
| GM | Marc'Andria Maurizzi | 2611 | 1 | ||
| GM | Velemir Ivic | 2638 | 1 | ||
| FM | Panesar Vedant | 2406 | 1 | ||
| GM | Andy Woodward | 2608 | 1 | ||
| GM | Daniil Yuffa | 2604 | 1 | ||
| 12 | GM | Erwin l'Ami | 2634 | 0 | |
| IM | Eline Roebers | 2398 | 0 | ||
| GM | Max Warmerdam | 2576 | 0 |
We have a 15-year-old leading the Challengers, after Lu overcame Panesar in a thrilling battle to move to 2/2.
The most memorable position came after Lu played 27...Rc2?!?, leaving herself three minutes to make another 13 moves. It looks like a simple blunder of a piece, but it's not so simple!
The only two players who could catch Lu were GMs Aydin Suleymanli and Bibisara Assaubayeva, but their thrilling clash ended in a draw. Assaubayeva had winning chances early on, then Suleymanli took over the initiative, but the brilliant resource 67...Qh4! saved the day.
Bibisara Assaubayeva finds the only move to stay in the game, potentially denying Aydin Suleymanli a share of the Challengers lead! https://t.co/Egt1r3qTpS pic.twitter.com/6JUHvhLYJ6
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2026
Those players were caught in second place by IMs Yip and Oro, who both scored fine wins with White over higher-rated Dutch opposition.
40-year-old L'Ami was interviewed by Steil-Antoni before the games began and said of playing 12-year-old Oro:
It’s always special to play someone I’m more than three times older than. It’s always a bit weird, but it’s also a challenge. I kind of like that. I played a lot of young talents in this group over the years and then have usually seen them end up in the Masters. Probably it will be this case again with this opponent.
Things went wrong early in the opening for L'Ami, however, and Oro made no mistake in what followed. He had lost six of his last seven games and scored only 3.5/13 in 2025, but this time commented, "Last year I was a good player, but now obviously I’m different—I play much better than last year."
I play much better than last year.
—Faustino Oro
Yip's win came after Warmerdam neglected to grab a "poisoned pawn" which, in fact, was relatively safe to eat! In the game Yip developed a powerful attack, and there was little that could be done about it.
The day's other win was a bounce-back win for Woodward, who took down Roebers in 27 moves in a line he'd prepared for the FIDE Grand Swiss.
Woodward will get the chance to take on his fellow 15-year-old and tournament leader Lu in round three, while there are mouth-watering pairings in the Masters. We have the national matchups Arjun-Gukesh (India), Van Foreest-Giri (Netherlands), Keymer-Bluebaum (Germany) as well as Niemann-Erdogmus, Aravindh-Abdusattorov, Sindarov-Fedoseev, and Praggnanandhaa-Van Nguyen.
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:
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.
