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Tata Steel Chess 2025: Praggnanandha shares lead with Gukesh after round 12, Erigaisi wins first game

Tata Steel Chess 2025: Praggnanandha shares lead with Gukesh after round 12, Erigaisi wins first game

Praggnanandhaa secured his sixth win at Tata Steel Chess 2025, defeating Alexey Sarana. Meanwhile, Gukesh missed a winning chance.

In the penultimate round of the 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025, the Indian contingent in Wijk aan Zee showed a good performance. R Praggnanandhaa led the charge by securing his sixth win of the tournament. Playing with the white pieces, he defeated Serbia’s Alexey Sarana using an all-pawn opening, followed by a Queen’s Gambit decline. Despite Sarana’s early aggression, Praggnanandhaa took control when Sarana made a miscalculation on his 21st move. Ultimately, Praggnanandhaa made Sarana resign before the 30th move. With this win, Pragg and Gukesh are now tied for the top spot.

Gukesh’s missed opportunity

Gukesh Dommaraju played the longest game of Round 12 against Jorden van Foreest. Defending with Black, he missed a chance to win and settled for a draw. Despite some early troubles, Gukesh recovered with strong queen play but blundered on move 47, leading to a deadlock and eventual draw.

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Arjun Erigaisi’s finally wins

Saturday also brought good news for Arjun Erigaisi, who broke his winless streak by defeating Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Playing with a Nimzo-Indian defence, Arjun capitalised on Abdusattorov’s blunder on the 24th move. Although he faced a brief setback on move 32, Arjun regained his composure with impressive queen and bishop manoeuvres. He clinched victory by capturing the opponent’s rook, leaving Abdusattorov behind Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh on the leaderboard.

Mendonca held Caruana to draw

Elsewhere, Indian GM Leon Luke Mendonca held Fabiano Caruana to a draw, while Pentala Harikrishna did the same against Vincent Keymer. Anish Giri continued his unbeaten streak by drawing against Wei Yi of China. In the Challengers section, 11-year-old Faustino Oro from Argentina defeated 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi of China. India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu faced defeat against Ediz Gurel, while Divya Deshmukh fought a long 129-move battle but ultimately lost to Benjamin Bok of the Netherlands.

87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025 standings after 12th round

Here’s the updated table with player names, scores, ratings, Sb, and their respective countries:

PosPlayerCountryScoreRatingSb
1Praggnanandhaa RameshbabuIndia8.5274148.50
2Gukesh DommarajuIndia8.5277748.25
3Nodirbek AbdusattorovUzbekistan7.5276842.00
4Vladimir FedoseevRussia7.0271738.75
5Anish GiriNetherlands6.5273138.00
6Wei YiChina6.5275137.00
7Fabiano CaruanaUSA6.0280534.50
8Pentala HarikrishnaIndia6.0269529.75
9Alexey SaranaRussia5.0267729.75
10Jorden van ForeestNetherlands5.0268029.50
11Vincent KeymerGermany5.0273326.75
12Arjun ErigaisiIndia4.5280126.75
13Leon Luke MendoncaIndia4.5263926.00
14Max WarmerdamNetherlands3.5264318.50
SB: Sonneborn-Berger, a scoring system used to break ties in chess tournaments

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