Tata Steel Masters: Gukesh beats Erdogmus, Erigaisi loses to Keymer

World champion D Gukesh defeated Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus to stay in contention at the Tata Steel Masters, while Arjun Erigaisi lost to Vincent Keymer. Praggnanandhaa drew with Hans Niemann as Matthias Bluebaum continued his fine run with a win over Anish Giri

WIJK AAN ZEE (THE NETHERLANDS): India’s top-rated chess player Arjun Erigaisi could not match the skills of Vincent Keymer of Germany in key moments and suffered another defeat in the 10th round of the Tata Steel Masters here.

World champion D Gukesh fought his way back into contention, delivering an endgame masterclass against young prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. Playing with the black pieces, Gukesh secured a clinical victory to take his tally to five points out of a possible 10. However, the Indian ace will need an exceptional performance in the final three rounds if he is to stamp his authority as world champion.

---

Erigaisi, who was in good touch a few days ago, seemed to lose momentum midway and now finds himself in the lower half of the points table. With just four points from 10 games, the highest-ranked Indian has plenty of ground to cover to stay afloat. A positional blunder in the closed Ruy Lopez proved costly for Erigaisi. Keymer capitalised quickly, and from that point there was no looking back for the German, who has himself endured a mixed tournament so far.

Meanwhile, R Praggnanandhaa settled for a draw with Hans Moke Niemann in a French Defence encounter, a game in which neither player found much scope for complications. Praggnanandhaa’s surprise choice of the French Defence Rubinstein Variation raised eyebrows in elite circles, as the young Indian is trying different approaches ahead of the much-awaited Candidates tournament. The opening did not offer much, and Niemann, caught off guard, chose not to press hard with the white pieces. The game ended peacefully as both players exchanged pieces regularly to reach a level rook-and-pawns endgame.

Matthias Bluebaum of Germany continued his fine form, beating Anish Giri after defeating Gukesh in the previous round. Jorden van Foreest of the Netherlands drew with Javokhir Sindarov, both moving to six points.

Results – Round 10:
Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 6) beat Anish Giri (Ned, 4.5); Hans Moke Niemann (USA, 5.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 4.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 5) beat Arjun Erigaisi (Ind, 4); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 6) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 6); Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 2.5) vs Thai Dai Van Nguyen (Cze, 3); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 6) vs Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo, 4.5); Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur, 5.5) lost to D Gukesh (Ind, 5).