Tata Steel Masters: Erigaisi beats Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh draws with Sindarov

Arjun Erigaisi defeated compatriot R Praggnanandhaa, while D Gukesh drew with Javokhir Sindarov in Round 1 of the Tata Steel Masters. Hans Niemann and Vincent Keymer also won, as the prestigious chess tournament began in Wijk Aan Zee

Netherlands: Top seed Arjun Erigaisi scored a convincing victory over compatriot R Praggnanandhaa, while World Champion D Gukesh played out a hard-fought draw against World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan in the first round of the Tata Steel Masters here.

After a delayed start caused by environmental activists’ protest, the world’s oldest running super tournament finally took off and the first round had enough excitement to keep chess buffs glued to their screens for nearly five hours.

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The first victory of the event was scored by Hans Moke Niemann of the United States, who was pleasantly surprised to notice a tactical blunder by Slovenian Vladimir Fedoseev early in the middle game. Niemann pounced on the opportunity and Fedoseev resigned as early as move 16 when material loss was inevitable.

German Vincent Keymer was the other winner of the day as he scored at the expense of Dutch star Anish Giri. Erigaisi, Keymer and Niemann share the lead on a full point, a half point ahead of Gukesh and seven others.

It turned out to be an exciting start from Erigaisi after he faced the Queen’s Gambit Accepted against his friend Praggnanandhaa. Praggnanandhaa erred early in the middle game as his king got stuck in the centre and Erigaisi calculated precisely to cause huge damage to an already weakened king. The game was over in just 32 moves.

Gukesh came close but could not convert his advantage into a victory over Sindarov, who played white. The Queen’s Gambit Declined has been in Gukesh’s arsenal for quite some time, and he came up with a stylish queen sacrifice that should have sealed the game on another day. However, Sindarov was resourceful and kept resisting even though his king looked in mortal danger. The longest game of the day’s contest was drawn after 78 moves.

The other Indian in fray, Aravindh Chithambaram, also started off with a draw against Matthias Bluebaum of Germany. Bluebaum, who will be part of the forthcoming Candidates tournament, remained solid and tricky for most of the Catalan opening game and drew after 41 moves.

In other results, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus of Turkey drew with Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan, while Jorden van Foreest of Holland signed peace with Thai Dai Van Nguyen of Czech Republic.

Results after Round 1 (Indians unless specified): Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) drew with D Gukesh; Arjun Erigaisi beat R Praggnanandhaa; Aravindh Chithambaram drew with Matthias Bluebaum (GER); Hans Moke Niemann (USA) beat Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO); Vincent Keymer (GER) beat Anish Giri (NED); Jorden van Foreest (NED) drew with Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE); Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (TUR) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB).