Gukesh beats Nguyen, Arjun loses in Tata Steel Masters

World champion D Gukesh ended his run of draws with a win over Thai Dai Van Nguyen in round five of the Tata Steel Masters. Arjun Erigaisi lost to Vladimir Fedoseev, while Praggnanandhaa drew and Aravindh Chithambaram suffered defeat

Wijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands): World champion D Gukesh ended his run of draws by defeating Thai Dai Van Nguyen of Czech Republic, while overnight joint leader Arjun Erigaisi was shocked by Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia in the fifth round of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament here.

Gukesh’s timely victory ahead of the first rest day on Thursday took him to three points out of five, moving the Indian ace to joint fourth spot behind the three leaders.

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The game between Hans Niemann of the USA and Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan ended in a draw, while Abdusattorov’s compatriot and World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov defeated young Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus after strong resistance.

With three leaders on 3.5 points, Gukesh now shares the fourth spot with Fedoseev and Dutchman Jorden van Foreest.

With nine rounds still to come in the 13-round tournament, Erigaisi slipped to joint seventh spot on 2.5 points, a point ahead of fellow Indians Aravindh Chithambaram and R Praggnanandhaa.

Gukesh won with black pieces in a Queen’s Indian Defence game.

It was a highly technical battle, with the Indian sacrificing a rook for a minor piece to exert pressure against the white king. Nguyen could not withstand the attack and the game lasted 51 moves.

“It was a nice grind,” said the world champion, who added that his slow four-draw start could have been faster if not for a near miss against Sindarov in the first round.

“I was supposed to win the first one but I missed by a whisker. I’m pretty much happy with most of the games I played so far. Although I didn’t get the win, I knew I was playing well, so it was expected that I would get it at some point. The one thing that helped (against Sindarov) was it was just so long I was too tired to be upset.”

Arjun faced a risky variation as white against Fedoseev, who bounced back strongly after losing in the opener to Niemann. The strategy worked as Arjun drifted into a passive position in the middle game, his pieces stuck in the centre, and his weak king left him unable to recover.

R Praggnanandhaa played his third draw in the event against Anish Giri of Holland, while Aravindh Chithambaram went down to German Vincent Keymer to remain on 1.5 points from five games.

Results round 5 (Indians unless specified):
R Praggnanandhaa (1.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 1.5); Arjun Erigaisi (2.5) lost to Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo, 3); Thai Dai Van Nguyen (Cze, 1.5) lost to D Gukesh (3); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 3) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 2.5); Hans Moke Niemann (USA, 3.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 3.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 2.5) beat Aravindh Chithambaram (1.5); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 3.5) beat Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur, 2).