The Week in Chess

1. Wei Yi and Caruana keep themselves in contention after wins in Round 8 of the Tata Steel Masters - 8

   The Tata Steel Masters enters a second rest day on Monday with a three way tie between Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa on 5.5/8, half a point clear of Vladimir Fedoseev on 5 points and in turn half a point clear of Alexey Sarana, Wei Yi and Fabiano Caruana on 4.5/8. The winner of this year's Masters will surely be one of these players.

   Today the leaders Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh drew a Berlin Ruy Lopez in 33 moves. A game not without interest but also not that thrilling either. Fabiano Caruana beat Vincent Keymer on the black side of an Exchange Queen's Gambit. Caruana had a chance after 27.Bc1? but played 27...Qe7 instead of 27...Nd6! Caruana had to wait for another mistake 36.Rf4? before he was winning. Keymer has been a big fighter in the tournament but has made far too many serious errors. The other leader Abdusattorov and fourth placed Fedoseev drew a Petroff that seemed to be deeply prepared by both.

   Max Warmerdam got a perfectly acceptable position against Wei Yi in...

2. Gukesh joins Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa in the lead of the Tata Steel Masters after 7 Rounds - 7

   The Tata Steel Masters has only just past the half way stage and there is a three way tie between Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa on 5/7. World Champion Gukesh was the only one of these leaders who won today.

   Gukesh beat Pentala Harikrishna on the white side of an Advance French. Harikrishna came up with a novelty of 11...Qb6 but then after 12.g4 didn't follow up with 12...Ncxd4 which he surely would have if he's really prepared this, he would then have had an unclear position. Gukesh immediately got an advantage but the position proved rather difficult for both sides, it was only after several adventures that the error 29...Nxe3? gave Gukesh a winning position. Tomorrow, in round 8, Gukesh faces Praggnanandhaa with black.

   Both Jorden van Foreest and Praggnanandhaa hoped to surprise each other with in an interesting Sicilian but both knew what they were doing and the game quickly burned out to a draw. Anish Giri and Abdusattorov drew in an English Reversed

   ...

3. Disappointment for Abdusattorov as he allows Gukesh to escape with a draw in Tata Steel Round 6 - 6

   Nodirbek Abdusattorov continues to share the lead with Praggnanandhaa on 4.5/6 after both drew their games today. Praggnanandhaa drew a well conducted Open Spanish against Wei Yi where there weren't any clear chances for either player. In contrast Abdusattorov built up a winning position against World Champion Gukesh only to let it slip at the end. Gukesh remains very much in touch half a point behind the leaders.

   There was in fact only one decisive game today where Alexey Sarana beat Vladimir Fedoseev in a complicated Queen's Gambit where Fedoseev started to go wrong about move 20 and resigned on move 45. Arjun Erigaisi is having a nightmare of a tournament, it turns out he was a little sick today so he played for, and got, a quick draw against Fabiano Caruana. Vincent Keymer's draw against Anish Giri was probably the most interesting of the remaining games, Luke Leon Mendonca against Max Warmerdam was a very balanced Queen's Gambit and Pentala Harikrishna had some small chances

   ...

4. Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov lead the Tata Steel Masters on 4/5 going into the first rest day - 5

   There were three decisive games in Round 5 of the Tata Steel Masters and they all were wins for players at, or near the top, of the standings. Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Jorden Van Foreest in spite of being worse out of the opening. Once he equalised after the inaccurate 17.b5?! he quickly took over 20.Nd5?! 24.f4?! and 27.a5?! were all inaccurate from Van Foreest and Abdusattorov brought home the point convincingly after that. Sole leader Praggnanandhaa faced Max Warmerdam with black and chose the French. The Exchange variation has a better reputation that it used to, but I'm not sure Warmerdam wasn't playing for a draw from the start, they agreed a draw on move 40.

   World Champion Gukesh beat Vincent Keymer in a Nimzo-Indian. Keymer has been playing very risky and fighting chess in this event but objectively he's made many dubious moves too. 22...f4? and 25...Bb7?! weren't good moves from Keymer and although Gukesh's inferior 30.Rf4?! (30.b5 is better) gave him a lifeline he didn't take...

5. Praggnanandhaa leads Tata Steel Masters after four rounds - 4

   Praggnanandhaa took the sole lead of the Tata Steel Masters after four rounds, half a point clear of Nodirbek Abdusattorov who struggled to a draw after missing an early chance.

   It is still very early days of the Tata Steel tournament and Praggnanandhaa has started well before only to fall away. Today he had white against Leon Luke Mendonca, the lowest rated player in the tournament and clearly struggling. Praggnanandhaa had a serious advantage by move 16 and was clearly winning by move 27. Joint leader Abdusattorov had a chance to be much better with 15.c5! instead 15.Bf4? left Wei Yi pressing for a few moves but by move 24 the game was equal and drawn on move 35.

   Arjun Erigaisi was one of the pre-event favourites but everything is going wrong. Today he was winning against Fedoseev after 21.Rg5!, first of all he messed up the win with 26.Bxf5?! and then with 27.Nxf5?? he was lost. Pentala Harikrishna was gifted a win 21...Kg6? lost pretty much on the spot, 21...Ke8 was...

6. Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov share lead in the Tata Steel Masters after three rounds - 3

   The third round of the Tata Steel Masters saw five draws and the only decisive results came right at the end but they did mean Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov were in a two way share of the lead. The draws came in stark contrast to the seven white wins in the Challengers group which really shook up the standings there.

   In the Masters Praggnanandhaa converted an advantage over a struggling Arjun Erigaisi. Max Warmerdam was still very much in the game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov until very near the end when his position collapsed, although his position was surely harder to handle. Wei Yi finally got a real game against Vincent Keymer but was on the worse side of the draw. Gukesh was a bit better against Fabiano Caruana when he acquiesced to the repetition offered. It was a relief to see Leon Luke Mendonca, who hasn't been well, get his first half point against Pentala Harikrishna. Giri-Fedoseev and Van Foreest Sarana were also drawn.

   My thanks to Michiel Abeln for writing...

7. Five way tie for first place on 1.5/2 in the Tata Steel Masters - 2

   The second round of the Tata Steel Masters was not quite as crazy as the first but there were still three decisive games and a couple of near decisive ones. At the end of the day Praggnanandhaa, Caruana, Gukesh, Abdusattorov and Keymer lead on 1.5/2.

   Fabiano Caruana started the tournament with a non-event in the first game against Wei Yi, today he chose the London System to surprise his opponent Jorden Van Foreest but ended up with a slightly inferior position. Van Foreest then played a series of inferior moves and lost the endgame. Nodirbek Abdusattorov played a side-line of the French 6.a4, deviating from a game last year against his opponent Leon Luke Mendonca, this turned out to be a bullseye as Mendonca quickly went wrong and after the misguided 13.0-0-0 was lost, the game lasted only 31 moves. The other winner was Praggnanandhaa who beat Pentala Harikrishna. The game saw a sharp opening from Harikrishna but he was soon worse. The key was a Rook and Bishop endgame which both players...