The tournament now hinges on the last round. Arjun Erigaisi, having mustered some confidence from today’s win, will take on Gukesh while Pragg meets Gukesh’s world championship second, Vincent Keymer.

Written by Amit Kamath Updated: February 1, 2025 22:02 IST

Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi were in the thick of the action in Round 12 of the Tata Steel chess event on Saturday. (PHOTOS: Lennart Ootes)

The race for the Tata Steel chess tournament is now down to a two-horse race between Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa after a dramatic day at the prestigious event in Wijk aan Zee. All three members of India’s golden generation — Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun Erigaisi — made some glorious moves in Round 12, the penultimate day of the tournament, involving sacrifices that made jaws drop.

Gukesh was held to a draw by Jorden van Foreest. It was a game where Gukesh, playing with black pieces, had refused a draw by repetition, then had held an overwhelming edge, and then allowed the Dutchman the chance to claw his way back to parity on the board. In the middle of the game, he had courted severe time trouble, sacrificing his rook on move 39 (39… Rxe5) with just three seconds left on the clock, in one of the moves of the tournament.

Gukesh was the sole leader coming into the 11th round with a half a point edge over Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattarov. Gukesh’s draw means that both Indians are locked at 8.5 points each.

Erigaisi, who had been winless in the past 24 games at Tata Steel masters section, was not in the race for the title. But he delivered an assist for his Olympiad teammates Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa by taking down Nodirbek Abdusattarov in 46 moves.

For the Uzbek GM, this is now the third time in three editions that his Tata Steel masters challenge has unravelled in the final games.

The blunder from Abdusattarov came in the 24th move when he moved his queen to e5 (24… Qg5??). In doing so, he made it possible for Erigaisi to pile on pressure on his queen and the knight stationed on h5. Erigaisi has been low on confidence all tournament, but here he did not miss. He played 25. g4, thus applying the squeeze with his pawn.

Abdusattarov found a magical move to extract his queen and the knight out of the trap. But Erigaisi held the upper hand on the board since that move. Despite a slight wobble later on, he managed to force a resignation.

Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, took down Alexey Sarana for his third consecutive win. His win took him to 8.5 points, one full point ahead of Abdusattarov. Pragg held an advantage on the board from the 21st move after a blunder from his opponent (21… Nb5??). Pragg never let the pressure slip up from that point: at one stage a queen, a rook, a knight and a pawn from Pragg’s army were closing in on Sarana’s king who was literally in a corner on the a8 square.

The end of the game came with a delightful move: with a queen sacrifice from Praggnanandhaa on move 29 when he threw his most powerful piece on b7 for a sacrifice like a grenade (29. Qb7+).

Sarana immediately resigned.

The tournament now hinges on the last round, where all eyes will be on the three flagbearers of India’s golden generation. Erigaisi, having mustered some confidence from today’s win, will take on Gukesh while Pragg meets Gukesh’s world championship second, Vincent Keymer.