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The Week in Chess


  • Freestyle Grand Slam Weissenhaus 2025 – Games and Results
    The Freestyle Grand Slam Weissenhaus was the first in a series of events aimed at promoting the chess variant also known as Chess960, 9LX or Fischer Random Chess. The event is financed by German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner and backed by former World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. The remaining events of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour are: Paris April 8–15, New York July 17–24 New Delhi September 17–24 and Cape Town December 5–12.

    The first event of the series took place in a resort owned by Buettner in Wangels, Germany 7th to 14th February 2025. Players: Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, Gukesh, Abdusattorov, Firouzja, Aronian, Keymer, Fedoseev and Sindarov. A rapid round robin is followed by a classical KO later stage. I don’t have the ability to display this chess variant but do have the games available for download.

    The surprise winner was Vincent Keymer who beat Fabiano Caruana in the final. In the semi-final he beat Magnus Carlsen, the game he won was one of the most favorable starting positions for white. Carlsen beat Javokhir 2-0 to finish in 3rd place although Sindarov impressed everyone.

  • Praggnanandhaa wins the Tata Steel Masters after hugely dramatic final round and then a tie-break match – 13
    Praggnanandhaa won the 87th Tata Steel Chess tournament for his most impressive result of his career so far. The path to victory was not at all smooth and he had to show great determination on the final day. Praggnanandhaa shared the lead with World Champion Gukesh and I don’t think anyone predicted both players would go down to a defeat.

    Gukesh was well beaten by a resurgent Arjun Erigaisi who said his confidence returned after beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Round 12. The game was a Petroff with opposite sides castling, Erigaisi always seemed at least equal, there was a weird exchange sacrifice which was supposed to be a bit better for Gukesh but after that it was all one way traffic and Erigaisi won in only 31 moves.

    Abdusattorov could himself have got into a tie for first with a win today but was held by Pentala Harikrishna. Praggnanandhaa by this stage had troubles of his own as he was being tortured by Vincent Keymer. In the end Praggnanandhaa was given a chance to draw but he instead blundered a piece a few moves later and lost. The whole position was fiendishly difficult for both players and they had very little time too, mistakes were inevitable. This meant there was a tie for first between Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh and a blitz match for the title. Praggnanandhaa lost the first game but won the next two to secure the title. Very impressive considering the small recovery time between losing the classical game and the tie-breaks.

    The only other winner in the Masters was Max Warmerdam who beat Fabiano Caruana who definitely had a tournament to forget. Fedoseev-Wei Yi, Giri-Van Foreest and Sarana-Mendonca were all drawn.

    Panesar Vedant won the Tienkamp and qualifies for the Challengers next year and Thai Dai Van Nguyen beat Benjamin Bok in a must win game where he risked all in complications just before first time control and it paid off for him. This means Nguyen plays the Masters next year but spare a thought for Aydin Suleymanli who also scored 9.5/13 after beating Irina Bulmaga and only lost out on tie-break coefficients.

    My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos, notes to the games and indeed help throughout the tournament.

    Tata Steel Masters Final Round 13 Standings: 1st Gukesh, D 8.5pts, 2nd Praggnanandhaa, R 8.5pts, 3rd Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 8pts, 4th Fedoseev, Vladimir 7.5pts, 5th Giri, Anish 7pts, 6th Wei, Yi 7pts, 7th Harikrishna, Pentala 6.5pts, 8th Caruana, Fabiano 6pts, 9th Keymer, Vincent 6pts, 10th Erigaisi, Arjun 5.5pts, 11th Van Foreest, Jorden 5.5pts, 12th Sarana, Alexey 5.5pts, 13th Mendonca, Leon Luke 5pts, 14th Warmerdam, Max 4.5pts.

    Tata Steel Challengers Final Round 13 Standings: 1st Nguyen, Thai Dai Van 9.5pts, 2nd Suleymanli, Aydin 9.5pts, 3rd L’Ami, Erwin 8.5pts, 4th Yakubboev, Nodirbek 8pts, 5th Bok, Benjamin 8pts, 6th Gurel, Ediz 7.5pts, 7th Svane, Frederik 7.5pts, 8th Nogerbek, Kazybek 7.5pts, 9th Vaishali, Rameshbabu 6pts, 10th Lu, Miaoyi 5.5pts, 11th Pijpers, Arthur 5.5pts, 12th Oro, Faustino 3.5pts, 13th Divya, Deshmukh 3.5pts, 14th Bulmaga, Irina 1pt.

    Tata Steel Tienkamp Final Round 9 Standings: 1st Panesar Vedant 6pts, 2nd Slagboom, Leandro 5.5pts, 2nd Grutter, Tim 5.5pts, 4th Smeets, Kobe 5pts, 4th Tudor, Henry Edward 5pts, 6th Sofronie, Iulian 4pts, 6th Lohia, Sohum 4pts, 8th Beukema, Stefan 3.5pts, 8th Holzke, Frank 3.5pts, 10th Zwirs, Nico 3pts.

  • Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh share the lead going into the final round of the Tata Steel Masters – 12

    The twelfth round of the Tata Steel Masters saw the top three all involved in dramatic games. At the end of the day Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh share the lead on 8.5/12 and Nodirbek Abdusattorov is now on 7.5 points after losing. If they are tied tomorrow there will be a blitz tie-break match after the round.

    First of all Praggnanandhaa won a short game against Alexey Sarana whose solid undefeated start is a distant memory after his third loss in a row. Praggnanandhaa found a clever idea in the Queen’s Gambit that led to opposite sides castling and a nasty position for Sarana. Praggnanandhaa broke through with a knight sacrifice and Sarana allowed him to finish with a Queen sacrifice. Gukesh no doubt felt obliged to try and win against Jorden Van Foreest and he was comfortable at one stage. Then the game entered a time scramble where Gukesh thought he might be losing (he wasn’t) but just after time control he played 42…Rb1?! (42…Rxh3 was a complicated win) missing that white had 45.Ke4. Calculating such a position is very complicated and shortly after Van Foreest was winning according to the engines but he missed something and after 47.Rxe3 the game finished in a draw. Abdusattorov had a miserable time against Arjun Erigaisi, he was slightly worse out of the opening and then lost after 24…Qg5? Erigaisi overcomplicated things and let much of the advantage go with 32.Rxc6? (32.Rg6!) but it was still complicated and after 36…Rf8? 37.Qg2 Erigaisi was winning again and there were no more mistakes.

    Vladimir Fedoseev took advantage of a one move blunder (30.Qb3?? Rf6!) to beat Max Warmerdam, Leon Luke Mendonca missed a chance 36.Rxd7! to go into a very favourable knight ending against Fabiano Caruana before drawing, Pentala Harikrishna and Vincent Keymer drew in a Catalan and Wei Yi and Anish Giri blitzed to a draw in a Petroff that was the first game to finish.

    In the Challengers Erwin L’Ami survived a lost position against Kazybek Nogerbek and his draw allowed him to share the lead with Thai Dai Van Nguyen who beat the suffering Irina Bulmaga today, and finally Aydin Suleymanli (who plays Bulmaga tomorrow) beat Frederik Svane to catch both of them too. All these leaders are on 8.5/12.

    My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos.

    Masters Round 12 Standings: 1st= Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh 8.5pts, 3rd Abdusattorov 7.5pts, 4th Fedoseev 7pts, 5th= Giri, Wei Yi 6.5pts, 7th= Caruana, Harikrishna 6pts, 9th= Sarana, Van Foreest, Keymer 5pts, 12th= Erigaisi, Mendonca 4.5pts, 14th Warmerdam 3.5pts,

    Round 13 on Feb 2nd at 11.00 GMT Gukesh vs Erigaisi, Giri vs Van Foreest, Fedoseev vs Wei Yi Caruana vs Warmerdam, Sarana vs Mendonca, Keymer vs Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov vs Harikrishna,

    Challengers Round 12 Standings: 1st= Suleymanli, L’Ami, Nguyen 8.5pts, 4th Bok 8pts, 5th= Yakubboev, Svane, Gurel 7pts, 8th Nogerbek 6.5pts, 9th Lu 5.5pts, 10th= Pijpers, Vaishali 5pts, 12th Oro 3.5pts, 13th Divya 3pts, 14th Bulmaga 1pt,

    Round 13 Feb 02 at 12.00 Lu vs Yakubboev, Nogerbek vs Oro, Vaishali vs L’Ami, Svane vs Gurel, Bulmaga vs Suleymanli, Bok vs Nguyen, Pijpers vs Divya,

    Tienkamp Round 8 of 9 Standings: 1st= Panesar, Slagboom 5.5pts, 3rd Grutter 5pts, 4th Tudor 4.5pts, 5th Smeets 4pts, 6th= Beukema, Sofronie 3.5pts, 8th= Lohia, Holzke 3pts, 10th Zwirs 2.5pts.

  • Gukesh leads the Tata Steel Masters on 8/11 half a point clear of Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov – 11

    The Tata Steel Masters heads into the final two rounds with three players in contention for first place. Gukesh’s draw took him to 8/11 and a win for Praggnanandhaa put him right back in it on 7.5 points. Nodirbek Abdusattorov let a win escape against Vincent Keymer but stays very much in contention on 7.5 points as well. The leaders now all face players in the bottom half of the field, one of those players is however Arjun Erigaisi who faces two of them and may try to salvage something from an otherwise terrible event by winning these key games.

    World Champion Gukesh was held to a draw by Wei Yi. The Chinese player felt he was under pressure for much of the game although the engines didn’t have such worries. Praggnanandhaa emerged victorious in a wild struggle against Fabiano Caruana where both players were happy to head for unclear complications. Caruana had the chance to head for an endgame with 28.Qf2 when most likely he would not have lost and maybe he would have won, in the end he was down to a minute and under attack when he blundered with 32.Qe3? the engine thinks 32.Qe2 is equal but the game would still have been wide open at least. Vincent Keymer was doing fine against Abdusattorov until his terrible idea of 28.h4? followed by 29.dxe5 left him dead lost. Abdusattorov only needed to find 38…Qh5 to win the game, instead he blundered into a drawn endgame with 38…Qe7? Pentala Harikrishna beat Alexey Sarana in a fine game where he found a sneaky tactic to win material.

    Anish Giri beat Max Warmerdam in a Giuoco Pianissimo where black was doing fine until he played 25…Bg6? and 27…Ra6?, and then he wasn’t. Leon Luke Mendonca was probably the happiest player today when his game tournament was crowned with a win against Vladimir Fedoseev who blundered with 27.Be2? and found there was no fixing it. Erigaisi against Jorden Van Foreest was a Saemisch Nimzo-Indian which might be theoretically interesting but just drifted to a draw after the opening.

    In the Challengers it was all change at the top when Frederik Svane beat the leader Thai Dai Van Nguyen allowing Erwin L’Ami to retake the lead alone when he beat Miaoyi Lu and Aydin Suleymanli is also now tied for second after beating Vaishali. This event definitely isn’t settled.

    My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos and notes to the games.

    Masters Round 11 Standings: 1st Gukesh 8pts, 2nd= Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov 7.5pts, 4th= Fedoseev, Giri, Wei Yi 6pts, 7th= Caruana, Harikrishna 5.5pts, 9th Sarana 5pts, 10th= Van Foreest 4.5pts, 12th Mendonca 4pts, 13th= Warmerdam, Erigaisi 3.5pts,

    Masters Round 12 pairings on Feb 1st at 13.00 GMT Erigaisi vs Abdusattorov, Harikrishna vs Keymer, Praggnanandhaa vs Sarana, Mendonca vs Caruana, Warmerdam vs Fedoseev, Wei vs Giri, Van Foreest vs Gukesh,

    Challengers Round 11 Standings: 1st L’Ami 8pts, 2nd= Nguyen, Suleymanli 7.5pts, 4th= Bok, Svane 7pts, 6th= Gurel, Nogerbek, Yakubboev 6pts, 9th Lu 5.5pts, 10th= Pijpers, Vaishali 5pts, 12th Divya, Deshmukh 3pts, 13th Oro, Faustino 2.5pts, 14th Bulmaga, Irina 1pt

    Challengers Round 12 pairings: Feb 01 at 13.00 GMT Yakubboev vs Pijpers, Divya vs Bok, Nguyen vs Bulmaga, Suleymanli vs Svane, Gurel vs Vaishali, L’Ami vs Nogerbek, Oro vs Lu,

    Tienkamp Round 7 of 9 Standings: 1st= Slagboom, Grutter 5pts, 3rd Panesar Vedant 4.5pts, 4th Smeets 4pts, 5th Tudor 3.5pts, 6th Beukema 3pts, 7th= Holzke, Lohia, Zwirs, Sofronie 2.5pts.

  • Gukesh wins again in Round 10 of the Tata Steel Masters but so do Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa – 10

    Gukesh leads the Tata Steel Masters with 7.5/10 by half a point from Nodirbek Abdusattorov on 7 points, a further half point behind is Praggnanandhaa. It seems very likely the winner will be one of these three players and all of them won today. There is a rest day on Thursday followed by the final three rounds with the event finishing on Sunday.

    Gukesh started the game as black with 1.e4 d6! the first time he’d ever played this, Max Warmerdam played 2.g3! a pre-event piece of prep and after 2…c5 they were in a Sicilian. Gukesh had the kind of complicated position he needed and after 24.Bf1? he was much better and after 28.Rc1? he launched a direct attack for the win. Abdusattorov probably was only half kidding when he described this as his worst game of the event, the sharp Sicilian quickly turned very tricky for him, especially after 14.0-0?! rather than going Queenside, he was so unhappy that he spent almost 30 minutes on move 23, eventually as time trouble approached he gambled with 27.f5, mostly because Sarana only had 15 minutes left. There were mutual mistakes before 39…Kf8? immediately cost Sarana the game. A bit lucky? Maybe but Abdusattorov knew only a win was really good enough. Praggnanandhaa was the other winner, he was the beneficiary of the dubious move 8…gxf6 which Vladimir Fedoseev made when he became confused about his opening. This led to a long term advantage but Fedoseev found some active play and the game became very complicated. Praggnanandhaa felt he had restored his advantage with 32.Bf3 and after Queen’s came off he played a forcing winning variation.

    The other games were drawn, Fabiano Caruana was winning against Pentala Harikrishna but it was one of those endgames where it was really hard to find the best moves, many of them looked the same value, and he was a bit unlucky in the end not to convert after finding many really good moves. Wei Yi seemed to quickly lose faith in his position against Jorden Van Foreest and repeated for a draw, Leon Luke Mendonca played very solidly for a draw against Anish Giri and Arjun Erigaisi and Vincent Keymer drew a Ruy Lopez which seemed pretty well played.

    My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos and notes to the games. A shout out to Fiona Steil-Antoni for her post-game interviews on the official Tata Steel Chess YouTube channel. They’ve been excellent and to the point.

    In the Challengers Group Thai Dai Van Nguyen leads by half a point from Erwin L’Ami, they were both winners today.

    Masters Round 10 Standings: 1st Gukesh 7.5pts, 2nd Abdusattorov 7pts, 3rd Praggnanandhaa 6.5pts, 4th Fedoseev 6pts, 5th= Caruana, Wei Yi 5.5pts, 7th= Giri, Sarana 5pts, 9th= Harikrishna 4.5pts, 10th= Van Foreest, Keymer 4pts, 12th Warmerdam 3.5pts, 13th= Erigaisi, Mendonca 3pts,

    Rest Day Thursday 30th January. All groups.

    Round 11 Jan 31 at 13.00 GMT Van Foreest vs Erigaisi, Gukesh vs Wei Yi Giri vs Warmerdam, Fedoseev vs Mendonca, Caruana vs Praggnanandhaa, Sarana vs Harikrishna, Keymer vs Abdusattorov.

    Challengers Round 10 Standings: 1st Thai Dai Van Nguyen 7.5pts, 2nd L’Ami, Erwin 7pts, 3rd= Suleymanli, Bok 6.5pts, 5th Svane 6pts, 6th= Lu, Gurel, Nogerbek 5.5pts, 9th= Vaishali, Yakubboev 5pts, 11th Pijpers 4.5pts, 12th Oro 2.5pts, 13th Divya 2pts, 14th Bulmaga 1pt

    Round 11 Jan 31 at 13.00 GMT Oro vs Yakubboev, Lu vs L’Ami, Nogerbek vs Gurel, Vaishali vs Suleymanli, Svane vs Nguyen, Bulmaga vs Divya, Bok vs Pijpers,

    Tienkamp Round 6 Standings: 1st= Slagboom, Panesar Grutter 4pts, 4th= Beukema, Tudor, Kobe Smeets 3pts, 7th= Zwirs, Sofronie 2.5pts, 9th= Lohia, Holzke 2pts.

  • Gukesh takes the lead of the Tata Steel Masters after 9 Rounds – 9

    Today produced an opportunity for the World Champion Gukesh to take the lead and he delivered by beating Mendonca in a good game with the white pieces. His co leaders could not match him, Abdusattorov, drew in a solid game against Caruana, and Praggnanandhaa lost to Giri. Gukesh played a complicated game and while his opponent Mendonca played strongly for much of the game, he needed too much time to do so and in zeitnot he made a bad blunder. Giri put Praggnanandhaa under pressure and although he missed a few chances to win earlier he still got the converted the advantage to a full point after the time control.

    Abdusattorov played mostly solidly against Caruana but there was one chance in the game, after 29…Rad8?! (29…Qd8) Caruana should have played 30.e5! with quite a nice advantage, but he spurned this chance and the game was quickly drawn. Abdusattorov is now in second place where he was joined by Vladimir Fedoseev who won a well-played game against Pentala Harikrishna.

    In the challengers group Nguyen continues to lead after both he and second placed Erwin L’Ami made draws today. L’Ami is now joined by Benjamin Bok in 2nd, he won easily against Irina Bulmaga.

    Masters Standings Round 9: 1st Gukesh 6,5 2nd Abdusattorov, Fedoseev 6 points, 4th Praggnanandhaa 5,5 points, 5th Sarana, Caruana, Wei Yi 5 points, 8th Giri 4,5 points, 9th Harikrishna 4 points, 10th Van Foreest, Warmerdam, Keymer 3,5 points 13th Arjun, Mendonca 2,5 points.

    Round 10 Jan 29 at 13.00 GMT Erigaisi vs Keymer, Abdusattorov vs Sarana, Harikrishna vs Caruana, Praggnanandhaa vs Fedoseev, Mendonca vs Giri, Warmerdam vs Gukesh, Wei vs Van Foreest,

    Challengers Standings Round 9: 1st Nguyen 6, 5 pts, 2nd L’ Ami, Bok 6 pts, 4th Suleymanli, Nogerbek 5,5 pts, 6th Lu, Vaishali, Svane, Gurel, 5 pts, 10th Yakubboev 4,5 pts, 11th Pijpers 3,5 pts, 12th Faustino Oro 2,5 pts, 13th Divya 2 pts, 14th Bulmaga 1pt.

    Round 10 Jan 29 at 13.00 GMT Yakubboev vs Bok, Pijpers vs Bulmaga, Divya vs Svane, Nguyen vs Vaishali, Suleymanli vs Nogerbek, Gurel vs Lu, L’Ami vs Oro,

  • Wei Yi and Caruana keep themselves in contention after wins in Round 8 of the Tata Steel Masters – 8
    The Tata Steel Masters enters a second rest day on Monday with a three way tie between Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa on 5.5/8, half a point clear of Vladimir Fedoseev on 5 points and in turn half a point clear of Alexey Sarana, Wei Yi and Fabiano Caruana on 4.5/8. The winner of this year’s Masters will surely be one of these players.

    Today the leaders Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh drew a Berlin Ruy Lopez in 33 moves. A game not without interest but also not that thrilling either. Fabiano Caruana beat Vincent Keymer on the black side of an Exchange Queen’s Gambit. Caruana had a chance after 27.Bc1? but played 27…Qe7 instead of 27…Nd6! Caruana had to wait for another mistake 36.Rf4? before he was winning. Keymer has been a big fighter in the tournament but has made far too many serious errors. The other leader Abdusattorov and fourth placed Fedoseev drew a Petroff that seemed to be deeply prepared by both.

    Max Warmerdam got a perfectly acceptable position against Wei Yi in a Scotch but the position gradually became harder for him to play and after 50.Nc4? (50.Be5 getting his bishop out of the way was needed) 50…e5! it suddenly became clear Wei Yi was winning material and the game.

    The remaining games were drawn, these were: Harikrishna against Giri (who now has the cold that’s been going round), Arjun Erigaisi against Alexei Sarana (a Queen’s Gambit where Erigaisi took a quick draw), Mendonca against Van Foreest (Mendonca would had a much better position after 14.h3 but miscalculated and played the bad 14.d5? after which they reached a very complicated and difficult to evaluate endgame which finished in a draw).

    In the Challengers Thai Dai Van Nguyen beat Miaoyi Lu to take sole lead with 6/8 half a point clear of Erwin L’Ami.

    My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos and annotated games.

    Masters Standings Round 8: 1st= Gukesh, Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa 5.5pts, 4th Fedoseev 5pts, 5th= Sarana, Wei Yi, Caruana 4.5pts, 8th Harikrishna 4pts, 9th Giri 3.5pts, 10th= Keymer, Van Foreest, Warmerdam 3pts, 13th Mendonca 2.5pts, 14th Erigaisi 2pts.

    Rest day Monday 27th January

    Round 9 Jan 28 at 13.00 GMT Wei vs Erigaisi, Van Foreest vs Warmerdam, Gukesh vs Mendonca, Giri vs Praggnanandhaa, Fedoseev vs Harikrishna, Caruana vs Abdusattorov, Sarana vs Keymer.

    Challengers Standings Round 8: 1st Nguyen 6pts, 2nd L’Ami 5.5pts, 3rd= Bok, Suleymanli, Nogerbek 5pts, 6th= Lu, Vaishali, Svane 4.5pts, 9th= Gurel, Yakubboev 4pts, 11th Pijpers 3pts, 12th Faustino Oro 2.5pts, 13th Divya 1.5pts, 14th Bulmaga 1pt.

    Round 9 Jan 28 at 13.00 GMT L’Ami vs Yakubboev, Oro vs Gurel, Lu vs Suleymanli, Nogerbek vs Nguyen, Vaishali vs Divya, Svane vs Pijpers, Bulmaga vs Bok.

    Tienkamp Standings Round 3: 1st Grutter 2.5pts, 2nd= Kobe Smeets, Panesar 2pts, 4th= Lohia, Holzke, Sofronie, Zwirs 1.5pts, 8th= Slagboom, Tudor 1pt, 10th Beukema 0.5pts.

    There is no rest day on Monday for the Tienkamp.

  • Gukesh joins Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa in the lead of the Tata Steel Masters after 7 Rounds – 7

    The Tata Steel Masters has only just past the half way stage and there is a three way tie between Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa on 5/7. World Champion Gukesh was the only one of these leaders who won today.

    Gukesh beat Pentala Harikrishna on the white side of an Advance French. Harikrishna came up with a novelty of 11…Qb6 but then after 12.g4 didn’t follow up with 12…Ncxd4 which he surely would have if he’s really prepared this, he would then have had an unclear position. Gukesh immediately got an advantage but the position proved rather difficult for both sides, it was only after several adventures that the error 29…Nxe3? gave Gukesh a winning position. Tomorrow, in round 8, Gukesh faces Praggnanandhaa with black.

    Both Jorden van Foreest and Praggnanandhaa hoped to surprise each other with in an interesting Sicilian but both knew what they were doing and the game quickly burned out to a draw. Anish Giri and Abdusattorov drew in an English Reversed Sicilian. Vladimir Fedoseev moved within half a point of the lead with a fine win over Vincent Keymer in a Semi-Slav. The only other decisive game was Max Warmerdam’s win against Arjun Erigaisi, this game was notable for Erigaisi’s really risky play and it just did not pay off at all, he probably needs to go into damage limitation now by trying to draw a few games, that would certainly be the old Soviet advice under such circumstances. Fabiano Caruana drew with Alexey Sarana, he might have had a knight for three pawns but he came nowhere near proving this was an advantage. Wei Yi and Leon Luke Mendonca drew an interesting Ruy Lopez, both players may have missed small chances to put pressure on their opponent.

    In the Challengers Thai Dai Van Nguyen joined Erwin L’Ami in the lead after defeating Faustino Oro.

    My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos and notes to the games. A full summary and these notes are in the body of the article.

    Masters Round 7 Standings: 1st= Abdusattorov, Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa 5pts, 4th Fedoseev 4.5pts, 5th Sarana 4pts, 6th= Wei Yi, Caruana, Harikrishna 3.5pts, 9th= Keymer, Giri, Warmerdam 3pts, 12th Van Foreest 2.5pts, 13th Mendonca 2pts, 14th Erigaisi 1.5pts

    Masters Round Pairings 8 Jan 26 at 13.00 GMT: Erigaisi vs Sarana, Keymer vs Caruana, Abdusattorov vs Fedoseev, Harikrishna vs Giri, Praggnanandhaa vs Gukesh, Mendonca vs Van Foreest and Warmerdam vs Wei Yi.

    Challengers Round 7 Standings: 1st= Nguyen, L’Ami 5pts, 3rd= Bok, Lu 4.5pts, 5th= Nogerbek, Svane, Vaishali, Suleymanli 4pts, 9th Gurel 3.5pts, 10th Yakubboev 3pts, 11th Pijpers, Oro 2.5pts, 13th Divya 1.5pts, 14th Bulmaga 1pt.

    Challengers Round 8 Pairings Jan 26 at 13.00 GMT: Erigaisi vs Sarana, Keymer vs Caruana, Abdusattorov vs Fedoseev, Harikrishna vs Giri, Praggnanandhaa vs Gukesh, Mendonca vs Van Foreest and Warmerdam vs Wei Yi.

    Tienkamp Round 2 Standings: 1st= Smeets, Lohia, Grutter, Panesar 1.5pts, 5th= Holzke, Tudor, 1pt, 7th= Sofronie, Zwirs, Slagboom, Beukema 0.5pts.

  • Disappointment for Abdusattorov as he allows Gukesh to escape with a draw in Tata Steel Round 6 – 6

    Nodirbek Abdusattorov continues to share the lead with Praggnanandhaa on 4.5/6 after both drew their games today. Praggnanandhaa drew a well conducted Open Spanish against Wei Yi where there weren’t any clear chances for either player. In contrast Abdusattorov built up a winning position against World Champion Gukesh only to let it slip at the end. Gukesh remains very much in touch half a point behind the leaders.

    There was in fact only one decisive game today where Alexey Sarana beat Vladimir Fedoseev in a complicated Queen’s Gambit where Fedoseev started to go wrong about move 20 and resigned on move 45. Arjun Erigaisi is having a nightmare of a tournament, it turns out he was a little sick today so he played for, and got, a quick draw against Fabiano Caruana. Vincent Keymer’s draw against Anish Giri was probably the most interesting of the remaining games, Luke Leon Mendonca against Max Warmerdam was a very balanced Queen’s Gambit and Pentala Harikrishna had some small chances against Jorden Van Foreest who prepared a big idea as a surprise in the Steinitz Ruy Lopez but it turned out Harikrishna knew it anyway.

    Erwin L’Ami continues to lead the Challengers and the Top Tienkamp, a qualifier for the Challengers, started today.

    My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the annotated games and photos.

    Masters Round 6 Standings: 1st= Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa 4.5pts, 3rd Gukesh 4pts, 4th= Sarana, Fedoseev, Harikrishna 3.5pts, 7th= Wei Yi, Caruana, Keymer 3pts, 10th Giri 2.5pts 11th Van Foreest, Warmerdam 2pts 13th Erigaisi, Mendonca 1.5pts

    Round 7 pairings: Jan 25 at 13.00 GMT Warmerdam vs Erigaisi, Wei Yi vs Mendonca, Van Foreest vs Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh vs Harikrishna, Giri vs Abdusattorov, Fedoseev vs Keymer, Caruana vs Sarana,

    Challengers Round 6 Standings: 1st L’Ami 4.5pts, 2nd= Bok, Nguyen 4pts, 4th= Lu, Nogerbek, Vaishali, Suleymanli 3.5pts, 8th= Svane, Yakubboev 3pts, 10th Gurel, Faustino Oro 2.5pts, 12th Pijpers, Arthur 2pts, 13th Divya, Deshmukh 1.5pts, 14th Bulmaga, Irina 1pt.

    Round 7 pairings: Jan 25 at 13.00 GMT Gurel vs Yakubboev, L’Ami vs Suleymanli, Oro vs Nguyen, Lu vs Divya, Nogerbek vs Pijpers, Vaishali vs Bok, Svane vs Bulmaga,

    Tienkamp Round Standings: 1st= Grutter, Kobe Smeets 1pt, 3rd= Slagboom, Lohia, Holzke, Zwirs, Panesar, Beukema 0.5pts 9th= Tudor, Sofronie 0pts.

  • Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov lead the Tata Steel Masters on 4/5 going into the first rest day – 5
    There were three decisive games in Round 5 of the Tata Steel Masters and they all were wins for players at, or near the top, of the standings. Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Jorden Van Foreest in spite of being worse out of the opening. Once he equalised after the inaccurate 17.b5?! he quickly took over 20.Nd5?! 24.f4?! and 27.a5?! were all inaccurate from Van Foreest and Abdusattorov brought home the point convincingly after that. Sole leader Praggnanandhaa faced Max Warmerdam with black and chose the French. The Exchange variation has a better reputation that it used to, but I’m not sure Warmerdam wasn’t playing for a draw from the start, they agreed a draw on move 40.

    World Champion Gukesh beat Vincent Keymer in a Nimzo-Indian. Keymer has been playing very risky and fighting chess in this event but objectively he’s made many dubious moves too. 22…f4? and 25…Bb7?! weren’t good moves from Keymer and although Gukesh’s inferior 30.Rf4?! (30.b5 is better) gave him a lifeline he didn’t take it and was lost by move 40, Gukesh brought home the point in 72 moves. Vladimir Fedoseev seemed contented with a draw against Fabiano Caruana, the game looked to be heading that way when Caruana made a losing move, in that most dangerous of times, directly after first time control. It’s almost hard to believe just how catastrophic the innocuous looking 41…Bg2? was, but after 42.e5! he was just lost, his bishop cut out of the game until way too late.

    The remaining games were drawn, Arjun Erigaisi tried to kick start his event by playing extremely riskily with black against fellow tail-ender Leon Luke Mendonca, he almost overdid it but eventually the games finished in a draw by repetition and both players will be looking for a reset after the rest day. Already Erigaisi can only dream of damage limitation. Giri-Sarana was an interesting Giuoco Pianissimo drawn in 43 moves, Wei Yi-Harikrishna was a French where the Chinese player went wrong and bail out to a draw.

    The five rounds before the first rest day instead of the usual four has given this event an unusual feel, things are a little more set with just 8 rounds to go. At the top the tournament it seems wide open but Abdusattorov has certainly impressed with his self confidence. I’m also certainly ready for this rest day, I’m sure the players are too.

    In the Challengers Erwin L’Ami leads alone on 4/5. This event too seems wide open at the top.

    My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos and annotations to the games, some of which are based on player comments.

    Masters Round 5 Standings: 1st= Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov 4pts 3rd= Gukesh, Fedoseev 3.5pts 5th Harikrishna 3pts 6th= Wei Yi, Caruana, Sarana, Keymer 2.5pts 10th Giri 2pts 11th Warmerdam, Van Foreest 1.5pts 13th Mendonca, Erigaisi 1pt

    Rest Day Thursday Jan 23rd.

    Round 6 Jan 24 at 13.00 GMT Erigaisi vs Caruana, Sarana vs Fedoseev, Keymer vs Giri, Abdusattorov vs Gukesh, Harikrishna vs Van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa vs Wei Yi Mendonca vs Warmerdam.

    Challengers Round 5 Standings: 1st L’Ami, Erwin 4pts 2nd Bok, Nguyen 3.5pts 4th= Lu, Nogerbek, Vaishali 3pts, 7th= Yakubboev, Svane, Suleymanli, Gurel 2.5pts 11th Pijpers, Faustino Oro, Divya 1.5pts 14th Bulmaga 0.5pts

    Round 6 Jan 24 at 13.00 GMT Yakubboev vs Svane, Bulmaga vs Vaishali, Bok vs Nogerbek, Pijpers vs Lu, Divya vs Oro, Nguyen vs L’Ami, Suleymanli vs Gurel,

  • Praggnanandhaa leads Tata Steel Masters after four rounds – 4
    Praggnanandhaa took the sole lead of the Tata Steel Masters after four rounds, half a point clear of Nodirbek Abdusattorov who struggled to a draw after missing an early chance.

    It is still very early days of the Tata Steel tournament and Praggnanandhaa has started well before only to fall away. Today he had white against Leon Luke Mendonca, the lowest rated player in the tournament and clearly struggling. Praggnanandhaa had a serious advantage by move 16 and was clearly winning by move 27. Joint leader Abdusattorov had a chance to be much better with 15.c5! instead 15.Bf4? left Wei Yi pressing for a few moves but by move 24 the game was equal and drawn on move 35.

    Arjun Erigaisi was one of the pre-event favourites but everything is going wrong. Today he was winning against Fedoseev after 21.Rg5!, first of all he messed up the win with 26.Bxf5?! and then with 27.Nxf5?? he was lost. Pentala Harikrishna was gifted a win 21…Kg6? lost pretty much on the spot, 21…Ke8 was equal.

    Caruana-Giri, Sarana-Gukesh and Keymer-Van Foreest were all drawn.

    The rounds keep coming and Round 5 is tomorrow before finally the players get a rest day.

    Masters Round 4 Standings: 1st Praggnanandhaa 3.5pts, 2nd Abdusattorov 3pts, 3rd= Gukesh, Caruana, Fedoseev, Keymer, Harikrishna 2.5pts, 8th= Wei Yi, Sarana 2pts, 10= Van Foreest, Giri 1.5pts, 12th Warmerdam 1pt, 13= Mendonca, Erigaisi 0.5pts.

    Round 5 Jan 22 at 13.00 GMT Mendonca vs Erigaisi, Warmerdam vs Praggnanandhaa, Wei vs Harikrishna, Van Foreest vs Abdusattorov, Gukesh vs Keymer, Giri vs Sarana and Fedoseev vs Caruana,.

    Challengers Round 4 Standings: 1st= Lu, L’Ami, Nguyen 3pts, 4th= Suleymanli, Bok, Vaishali 2.5pts, 7th= Nogerbek, Svane, Gurel 2pts, 10th= Yakubboev, Divya 1.5pts, 12th= Pijpers, Oro 1pt, 14th Bulmaga 0.5pts.

    Round 5 Jan 22 at 13.00 GMT Suleymanli vs Yakubboev, Gurel vs Nguyen, L’Ami vs Divya, Oro vs Pijpers, Lu vs Bok, Nogerbek vs Bulmaga and Vaishali vs Svane.

  • Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov share lead in the Tata Steel Masters after three rounds – 3
    The third round of the Tata Steel Masters saw five draws and the only decisive results came right at the end but they did mean Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov were in a two way share of the lead. The draws came in stark contrast to the seven white wins in the Challengers group which really shook up the standings there.

    In the Masters Praggnanandhaa converted an advantage over a struggling Arjun Erigaisi. Max Warmerdam was still very much in the game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov until very near the end when his position collapsed, although his position was surely harder to handle. Wei Yi finally got a real game against Vincent Keymer but was on the worse side of the draw. Gukesh was a bit better against Fabiano Caruana when he acquiesced to the repetition offered. It was a relief to see Leon Luke Mendonca, who hasn’t been well, get his first half point against Pentala Harikrishna. Giri-Fedoseev and Van Foreest Sarana were also drawn.

    My thanks to Michiel Abeln for writing today’s report, annotating the games and providing the pictures you can read in the main body of the article, this allowed me to work on today’s TWIC.

    Masters Round 3 Standings: 1st= Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov 2.5pts 3rd= Caruana, Gukesh, Keymer 2pts 6th= Wei Yi, Sarana, Fedoseev, Harikrishna 1.5pts 10th= Warmerdam, Van Foreest, Giri 1pt 13th= Mendonca, Erigaisi 0.5pts.

    Masters Round 4 Pairings 21st Jan 1pm GMT: Erigaisi-Fedoseev, Caruana-Giri, Sarana-Gukesh, Keymer-Van Foreest, Abdusattorov-Wei, Harikrishna-Warmerdam, Praggnanandhaa-Mendonca.

    Challengers Round 3 Standings: 1st= Lu, Nguyen, L’Ami 2.5pts, 4th= Suleymanli, Gurel 2pts, 6th= Nogerbek, Yakubboev, Bok, Vaishali, Frederik Svane 1.5pts 11th Faustino Oro 1pt 12th= Divya, Pijpers 0.5pts 14th Bulmaga 0pts

    Challengers Round 4 Pairings 21st Jan 1pm GMT: Yakubboev-Vaishali, Svane-Nogerbek, Bulmaga-Lu, Bok-Oro, Pijpers-L’Ami, Divya-Gurel, Nguyen-Suleymanli,

  • Five way tie for first place on 1.5/2 in the Tata Steel Masters – 2
    The second round of the Tata Steel Masters was not quite as crazy as the first but there were still three decisive games and a couple of near decisive ones. At the end of the day Praggnanandhaa, Caruana, Gukesh, Abdusattorov and Keymer lead on 1.5/2.

    Fabiano Caruana started the tournament with a non-event in the first game against Wei Yi, today he chose the London System to surprise his opponent Jorden Van Foreest but ended up with a slightly inferior position. Van Foreest then played a series of inferior moves and lost the endgame. Nodirbek Abdusattorov played a side-line of the French 6.a4, deviating from a game last year against his opponent Leon Luke Mendonca, this turned out to be a bullseye as Mendonca quickly went wrong and after the misguided 13.0-0-0 was lost, the game lasted only 31 moves. The other winner was Praggnanandhaa who beat Pentala Harikrishna. The game saw a sharp opening from Harikrishna but he was soon worse. The key was a Rook and Bishop endgame which both players misjudged. They thought exchanging rooks off would be lost for Harikrishna which was just wrong, in the end, with rooks on, Praggnanandhaa won.

    The other games were drawn, Arjun Erigaisi was much better, if not winning, against Anish Giri at several points but the Dutchman was allowed to escape with a draw. Gukesh was a bit worse as black against Vladimir Fedoseev but this advantage never got out of hand. Vincent Keymer voluntarily decided to give up the exchange against Max Warmerdam and it was just bad for him. After various ups and downs Keymer managed a miracle escape for the second day running. Poor old Wei Yi must feel he hasn’t started his event yet, for the second day running he got a very dull position, this time as black against Alexey Sarana, and a draw was the result.

    In the Challengers there were just three decisive games, half the field is tied for first on 1.5/2.

    Masters Round 2 Standings: 1st= Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov, Gukesh, Caruana, Keymer 1.5pts, 6th= Sarana, Warmerdam, Wei Yi, Fedoseev, Harikrishna 1pt, 11th= Giri, Erigaisi, Van Foreest 0.5pts, 14th Mendonca 0pts,

    Round 3 Pairings: Praggnanandhaa-Erigaisi, Mendonca-Harikrishna, Warmerdam-Abdusattorov, Wei Yi-Keymer, Van Foreest-Sarana, Gukesh-Caruana, Giri-Fedoseev.

    Challengers Round 2 Standings: 1st= Lu Miaoyi, L’Ami, Vaishali, Frederik Svane, Bok, Nguyen, Yakubboev 1.5pts, 8th= Suleymanli, Gurel 1pt, 10th= Nogerbek, Divya, Pijpers 0.5pts, 13th= Oro, Bulmaga, 0pts

  • Gukesh starts with a very fortunate win against Giri in Round 1 of Tata Steel Masters 2025 – 1

    The 2025 Tata Steel Chess tournaments started with a bang with lively play and plenty of decisive results. Gukesh won against Anish Giri in a wild struggle where he was much worse at several stages and on the verge of defeat when Giri blundered away a win to a loss in a single move in time trouble. Vincent Keymer beat Luke Leon Mendonca from a bad position after he made an error after forgetting his preparation in the Two Knights Defence. After that Mendonca started to drift, first of all not playing the most incisive winning try (26.c6), then he allowed Keymer right back in the game (28.h3) and then blundered his position away in one move (31.Rc1?). Pentala Harikrishna beat Arjun Erigaisi in a long grind where he had the advantage of two rooks vs a queen. Praggnanandhaa escaped with a draw against Abdusattorov in a fascinating game, Jorden Van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev both had chances in their drawn game. Wei Yi played very conservatively in his draw against Fabiano Caruana and Max Warmerdam drew an interesting game against Alexey Sarana. There were also 5 out of 7 decisive games in the Challengers. So a promising start, judging from this first round the players seem to be going for very complicated positions, it will lead to mistakes, but also entertaining games.

    Masters Round 1 Standings: 1st= Gukesh, Harikrishna, Keymer 1pt 4th= Caruana, Abdusattorov, Wei Yi, Praggnanandhaa, Fedoseev, Van Foreest, Sarana, Warmerdam 0.5pts 12th= Erigaisi, Giri, Mendonca 0pts.

    Challengers Round 1 Standings: 1st= Nguyen, Yakubboev, Gurel, Vaishali, Lu 1pt 6th= Svane, Suleymanli, L’Ami, Bok 0.5pts 10th= Nogerbek, Divya, Pijpers, Oro, Bulmaga 0pts

    Round 2 Pairings Sunday 19th Jan 1pm: Erigaisi-Giri, Fedoseev-Gukesh, Caruana-Van Foreest, Sarana-Wei Yi, Keymer-Warmerdam, Abdusattorov-Mendonca, Harikrishna-Praggnanandhaa.

    Round Summary, photos and notes below.

  • Tata Steel Chess 2025 Round 1 Pairings, Gukesh faces Giri – 1
    The 87th Tata Steel Chess tournament starts on Saturday 18th January at 2pm local time. The pairings have been made and they are:

    Masters Round 1 pairings: Pentala Harikrishna – Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa – Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Leon Luke Mendonca – Vincent Keymer, Max Warmerdam – Alexey Sarana, Wei Yi – Fabiano Caruana, Jorden van Foreest – Vladimir Fedoseev, Gukesh D – Anish Giri.

    Challengers Round 1 pairings: Divya Deshmukh – Nodirbek Yakubboev, Thai Dai van Nguyen – Arthur Pijpers Aydin Suleymanli – Benjamin Bok, Ediz Gurel – Irina Bulmaga, Erwin l’Ami – Frederik Svane, Faustino Oro – Rameshbabu Vaishali, Miaoyi Lu – Kazybek Nogerbek.

  • 87th Tata Steel 2025 – Games and Results
    The 87th Tata Steel tournament takes place 17th January to 2nd February 2025.

    World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju plays his first chess since beating Ding Liren for the title. World number two Fabiano Caruana is the top rated played followed by number four Erigaisi Arjun, five Gukesh, six Nodirbek Abdusattorov and number 9 and defending champion Wei Yei. Also playing (in no particular order) Pentala Harikrishna (a last minute replacement for Santosh Vidit), Praggnanandhaa, Leon Luke Mendonca, Vincent Keymer, Max Warmerdam, Alexey Sarana, Jorden van Foreest, Vladimir Fedoseev and last but definitely not least Anish Giri.

    The Challengers is yet again an interesting mix of players and strengths: Thai Dai van Nguyen is the top seed. Divya Deshmukh, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Arthur Pijpers, Aydin Suleymanli, Benjamin Bok, Ediz Gurel, Irina Bulmaga, Erwin l’Ami, Frederik Svane, Faustino Oro, Rameshbabu Vaishali, Miaoyi Lu and Kazybek Nogerbek.

    I will have daily reports and live coverage. Play starts at 2pm local time, 1pm GMT. There will be a 15 minute delay for all broadcasts.

  • World Rapid & Blitz Championship 2024 – Games and Results
    The World Rapid & Blitz Championship took place on Wall Street in New York 26th to 31st December 2024. Carlsen, Caruana, MVL, Wei Yi, Nepomniachtchi, Aronian, Firouzja, Nakamura, Abdusattorov, Duda, Wesley So etc. In the women’s event Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie, Tan Zhongyi, Kosteniuk etc.

    Magnus Carlsen was defaulted in round 9 of the rapid when he didn’t change his clothes after being informed they broke the regulations. He stated this was likely his final FIDE event, he would not play the blitz. This seemed very final from Carlsen but then on the rest day a blurred photo emerged of him talking to Viswanthan Anand (I’m guessing there’s maybe a story that someone made sure there was a photo) and after some flex in the regulations Carlsen will play the blitz in which he is one of the favourites. Two points occur to me, firstly this isn’t over in the sense that FIDE and Carlsen have points of tension over the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam and the Esports World Cup that aren’t going to go away, but secondly I highly doubt Carlsen would be playing the blitz without FIDE having Anand for him to talk to, and being able to do this kind of thing is entirely what should qualify a person to be FIDE President somewhere down the line.

    The rapid title was taken by 18 year old and 59th seed Volodar Murzin. Whilst the victory can’t be described as anything other than a surprise he has been a force in rapid and blitz chess for many years and scored a very respectable 8/15 in this event in 2019. The key moment in his victory was where he hustled Praggnanandhaa to defeat via an objectively lost position in round 12, his only Alexander Grischuk drew quickly in the final round leaving Murzin the task, to which he was equal, of drawing with Karen H. Grigoryan for the title.

    Humpy Koneru won the women’s rapid title for the second time, she was the 10th seed. In spite of being India’s number one women’s player she can be seen as a bit of an outsider due to her fractious relationship with the Indian Chess Federation. She is always an interesting player to follow as she has a solid positional style which she scores well with.

    The final blitz had a Swiss section on the 30th and a knockout on the 31st for the medals among the top players. Ju Wenjun won the women’s title. Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi agreed to draw their match after 7 games. Nepomniachtchi came from 2-0 down to take the match into a tie-break. Whether you think the players should have been able to agree to share the title is going to be a matter of opinion and it’s been a divisive move. I believe you should stick to regulations and rewrite them afterwards if they turn out to be misguided. Clearly, at least in December 2024, this isn’t the way. I was very much surprised at the open ended nature of ”play until there is a decisive result” as written in the regs for the tie-break and I doubt this will happen again. I’m open to this format being repeated but many of the ordinary players who make this the event it is want a return to a straight Swiss. They pay to play in the event, without much hope of prizes, but they don’t want to pay for an extra day (including accommodation) they almost certainly won’t be playing any chess on and would prefer the extra rounds.

  • Champions Chess Tour Finals 2024 – Games and Results
    The Champions Chess Tour Finals took place Dec 17, 2024 – Dec 21, 2024 in Oslo, Norway over the board rather than via a server. 8 players compete: Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wesley So, Denis Lazavik, Vincent Keymer and Levon Aronian. The event starts with a Round Robin mini-match stage, these are two games matches with an Armageddon (times decided by bidding), if tied. There was then a final chance in the Survival Stage for players placed 3rd-6th in the Round Robin. Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Denis Lazavik in the Winners final to take one place. MVL beat Vincent Keymer and then Lazavik who had a second chance, in the Losers final. This meant the semifinal lineup was decided as Magnus Carlsen vs MVL (Carlsen got to choose his semifinal opponent after winning the RR) and Alireza Firouzja vs Ian Nepomniachtchi. Magnus Carlsen won the event defeating MVL 3.5-1.5 in the Semifinal and Nepomniachtchi 4-1 (winning the first two games) in the final. Nepomniachtchi had defeated Firouzja 3.5-0.5 in the other semifinal. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Carlsen does in the World Rapid and Blitz in just under a week in New York, he seems practically unplayable at fast time controls right now.
  • 14th XTX Markets London Chess Classic 2024 – Games and Results
    The 14th London Chess Classic sponsored by XTX Markets took place in the Emirates Stadium Fri 29th Nov to Sat 7th Dec 2024. The field of the Elite round robin was Gawain Jones, Michael Adams, Santosh Vidit, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Nikita Vitiugov, Andrew Hong, Ju Wenjun and Shreyas Royal play. Raunak Sadhwani and Ilya Smirin are the top seeds in the Masters, a 9 round open.

    Gawain Jones scored a fine victory with an undefeated 5/7, his round one win against Michael Adams seems especially important in retrospect, Adams tied with Vidit, Vitiugov and Mamedyarov on 4 points in second place. On the final day Alireza Firouzja won the Superblitz final by a point from MVL in what was a very strong field.

  • FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 – Games and Results

    The FIDE World Chess Championship took place in Singapore Mon 25th Nov to Fri 13th Dec 2024. Defending champion was 32 year old Ding Liren who won the title against Ian Nepomniachtchi in April 2023. The Challenger was 18 year old Gukesh Dommaraju who won the right to play the match after winning the Candidates tournament earlier in the year.

    Much was made of the poor form of Ding Liren who had admitted to depression but he played better than anyone had any right to expect. Ding won the first game but the match was soon level again after Gukesh won game 3.

    There were then seven draws in a row before Gukesh won a fluctuating struggle in game 11 where Ding stood well before losing the advantage and eventually blundering the position away in time trouble. Ding then won probably the best game of the match when he completely outplayed Gukesh in game 12. Game 13 was drawn before the final decisive game 14. Ding had white in the final game, didn’t get an advantage and in fact then chose to play into a very drawish but inferior endgame. Of course he should have held this endgame and the blunder he made that allowed Gukesh to win was really very simple but I think the whole way he tried to secure the draw was psychologically wrong and I wasn’t impressed even as I expected the game to be drawn. Gukesh has had a tremendous year, clumninating in this win. He finishes the year rated at number 5 in the world, he will be able to afford the kind of team only a world champion can afford from now on, the capture of the number one spot in the rating list will no doubt be the next target. He is the youngest ever world champion at 18 and there’s clear room for improvement, some of the weaker parts of his game were exposed a bit in this match, but even just playing this match probably improved Gukesh as a player. My feeling is that Ding won’t be too disappointed. He did put up a very decent defence of his title, far better than most predicted. The way it finished was a bit odd but was more a product of the sustained pressure of the match than that single moment, also he did have some lucky escapes in other games. The title clearly didn’t suit Ding and honestly we need a better champion for the game as a matter of urgency now. Ding said he’s likely to follow the Carlsen model of less classical and more rapid and blitz, I think that’s a bit of a pity but hopefully we’ll see him back to his best.

Susan Polgar Chess Daily News and Information