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Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

Tata Steel Chess 2025 Round 4: Praggnanandhaa Tops the Standings

ChessChess PersonalitiesOver the boardTournament
In another day of exciting chess, GM Pentala Harikrishna, GM Vladimir Fedoseev, and GM Praggnanandhaa R won, with Praggnanandhaa's win boosting him to the top of the standings with 3.5/4 points.

Tournament Information

The Tata Steel Chess tournament is one of the longest-running chess tournaments in history. It has attracted the world's top players for decades and is currently celebrating its 87th edition. The Masters section pits 14 players in a big single-player round robin, setting the stage for exhilarating chess battles as the clash of styles and ratings makes for quite the spectacle. The Challengers section is similarly structured, and Tata Steel Chess also includes a well-attended Amateurs section.

The Lichess broadcast coverage can be found here.

Schedule

RoundDate and Time
1January 18, 13:00 UTC
2January 19, 13:00 UTC
3January 20, 13:00 UTC
4January 21, 13:00 UTC
5January 22, 13:00 UTC
6January 24, 13:00 UTC
7January 25, 13:00 UTC
8January 26, 13:00 UTC
9January 28, 13:00 UTC
10January 29, 13:00 UTC
11January 31, 13:00 UTC
12February 1, 13:00 UTC
13February 2, 13:00 UTC

Leaderboard

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GM Praggnanandhaa R vs. GM Leon Luke Mendonca 1-0


Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Praggnanandhaa R has built up a reputation as a positional maestro, and today's game against GM Leon Luke Mendonca showcased Praggnanandhaa's exceptional class. In a rather uncommon line out of the Ruy Lopez, Morphy Defense, Anderssen Variation, Praggnanandhaa played the rare 7. Bg5, soon steering the game into uncharted waters. Mendonca never seemed to have solved his problems out of the opening as Praggnanandhaa slowly built positional pressure. Praggnanandhaa then converted his menacing central pawns into a passed d-pawn, which quickly started rolling and soon won him the game.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/LatXHomI/a56jAWat#0

GM Arjun Erigaisi vs. GM Vladimir Fedoseev 0-1


Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Arjun Erigaisi's nickname of "the madman" is well-deserved as he never shies away from complications, even though he has been having a rough start to his tournament. An early exchange of pawns in the center in a d4-d5 structure may have fooled some people into thinking that Erigaisi was eyeing a slow, positional approach, but after 9. Ne5 and 13. O-O-O, Erigaisi's intentions were clear: attack! After 14. g4, it seemed as if Erigaisi would get a powerful attack, but GM Vladimir Fedoseev's sharp retort, 14...f5!, invited Erigaisi to throw caution to the wind with 15. Ne2, a repositioning move which sacrificed a pawn. Erigaisi's attack was always faster, however, and this important caveat meant that Fedoseev would soon blunder away his advantage. In fact, on move 25 and a few moves before that point, Erigaisi was basically technically winning. With 26. Bxf5 and the follow-up blunder, 27. Nxf5, though, Erigaisi miscalculated, lost a piece, and the game.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/LatXHomI/efuNarBz#0

GM Pentala Harikrishna vs. GM Max Warmerdam 1-0


Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Pentala Harikrishna had an electrifying start to his tournament as he defeated GM Arjun Erigaisi in round 1. After a loss to Praggnanandhaa in round 2 and a draw against Mendonca in round 3, Harikrishna was looking to bounce back, and he did so with a spectacular game against GM Max Warmerdam. Lichess streamer and commentator GM Felix Blohberger, who has revealed that he is working as Harikrishna's second, must have been proud of Harikrishna's opening play.

After the opening phase was over, Warmerdam was not lost — actually, the position was largely equal, with some minor swings here and there for both sides. Having said that, Warmerdam went on to blunder as he grabbed a pawn with 20...Bxc3, whereafter 21. Nc6! would have been a strong response. Harikrishna blundered away his advantage with 21. Rf3+ instead, but the position was so dangerous and calculation-heavy for Black that Warmerdam blundered right back with 21...Kg6. Warmerdam’s king was brutally hunted down and Harikrishna earned a well-deserved full point for his attacking efforts.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/LatXHomI/6SKhfpLT#0

GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Anish Giri 1/2-1/2


Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

In GM Fabiano Caruana’s game against GM Anish Giri, it was unclear who had outprepared whom. Caruana had some semblance of an advantage as his pieces coordinated well, but Giri was spending almost no time in the opening and seemed rather comfortable. On move 17, Giri had more time than he had started with, while Caruana was down 50 minutes on the clock. By then, the position was quite simplified, and both sides agreed to a draw on move 34 after a very correct game.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/LatXHomI/DkF5bD9p#0

GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs. GM Wei Yi 1/2-1/2


Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who went into today's round as one of the leaders, played a very sharp line against GM Wei Yi's Nimzo-Indian Defense. GM Wei Yi was navigating the complications well, but on move 14 he played a mistake, 14...Nf6, which would have allowed Abdusattorov to pounce with a timely (potential) pawn sacrifice, 15. c5! As it stood, though, Abdusattorov played 15. Bf4 and found himself slightly worse; eventually, he did manage to find a narrow path toward equality and the players drew their game on move 41.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/LatXHomI/x0qmBAwL#0

GM Alexey Sarana vs. GM Gukesh D 1/2-1/2


Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Gukesh D once again came with some innovative preparation as he played 6...Nc6 in a standard Catalan Opening position. GM Alexey Sarana was not too disconcerted, though, as he found a way to get into a slightly better endgame. He kept pressing his slight, symbolic advantage for a long time, but Gukesh found some difficult defensive moves and drew a long game.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/LatXHomI/skqNxNh3#0

GM Vincent Keymer vs. GM Jorden Van Foreest 1/2-1/2


Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

In a Queen's Gambit Declined, GM Vincent Keymer exchanged the central pawns early on and was pressing a positional advantage against GM Jorden Van Foreest. With both sides castled on opposite sides of the board, the game promised to be an exciting clash; however, after Keymer declined repetition with an inaccurate move, he had to scramble to retain equality. While both sides kept the game going, the remainder of the game was rather uneventful and it soon petered out to a draw.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/LatXHomI/wwuZsrtJ#0

Round 5 Pairings

Player (White)Player (Black)
GM Leon Luke MendoncaGM Arjun Erigaisi
GM Max WarmerdamGM Praggnanandhaa R
GM Wei YiGM Pentala Harikrishna
GM Jorden Van ForeestGM Nodirbek Abdusattorov
GM Gukesh DGM Vincent Keymer
GM Alexey SaranaGM Anish Giri
GM Fabiano CaruanaGM Vladimir Fedoseev

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