Tata Steel Masters: Erigaisi beats Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh draws with Sindarov in first round
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 in Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands.
After a delayed start caused by an environmental activists’ protest, the world’s oldest running super tournament final had enough excitement in the first round to keep the chess buffs glued to their screens for nearly five hours.
The first victory of the event was scored by Hans Moke Niemann of the United States, who was pleasantly surprised to notice an optical blunder by Slovenian Vladimir Fedoseev early in the middlegame.
Niemann pounced on the opportunity like a hawk, 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, on one point, share the lead. They are half a 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.
READ: Tata Steel Masters in Netherlands delayed after environmental activists block entrance with coal
Praggnanandhaa erred early in the middle game as his king got stuck in the centre, and Erigaisi pounced on the opportunity. 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 now, and he came up with a stylish queen sacrifice that should have sealed the game on another day.
However, Sindarov, quite resourceful, kept providing resistance even though it looked like his king was in mortal danger. The longest game of the day’s contest was drawn after 78 moves.
The other Indian in the 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 a major part 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 the 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); and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (TUR) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB).
Published on Jan 18, 2026