Wijk aan Zee: Defending champion R. Praggnanandhaa slipped to a second straight defeat at the Tata Steel Masters Chess, losing to Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, on Sunday. The Indian youngster was unable to hold a balanced endgame and now finds himself at the bottom of the standings without a point from two outings, leaving him with a steep climb over the next 11 rounds.
World champion D. Gukesh shared the points with Dutch player Jorden van Foreest, taking his tally to one point after back-to-back draws, according to reports.
Arjun Erigaisi, who began the tournament by beating Praggnanandhaa, pressed hard against Thai Dai Van Nguyen of the Czech Republic but was unable to break through. The game steered into a rook-and-pawns ending and ended level, keeping Arjun in a joint lead on 1.5 points alongside Hans Moke Niemann and Abdusattorov.
Aravindh Chithambaram also settled for a draw, sharing the point with Turkish youngster Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus to move to one point after two rounds.
Behind the leaders, nine players sit half a point back, creating a tightly packed chase group. Dutch favourite Anish Giri is on 0.5 and remains just ahead of Praggnanandhaa in the standings.
In Praggnanandhaa’s encounter, a Queen’s Gambit Declined saw him reach an equal position with Black until an inaccuracy on move 31 cost him a pawn in a rook ending – an outcome analysts believe still held defensive resources. The Indian, however, failed to rescue the position and resigned after sixty moves.
Arjun followed a similar opening choice and briefly came under pressure in the middlegame before steering the game safely to another rook-and-pawns finish.
Gukesh worked with the initiative using the white pieces in a sharp and imbalanced middlegame. Both sides created complications, and the Indian eventually forced a perpetual check to divide the point.
Aravindh escaped with a half-point after being pushed to the edge in a Sicilian Defence battle by Erdogmus, while Slovenia’s Vladimir Fedoseev rebounded from his opening-round defeat with a win over Germany’s Vincent Keymer.
