World champion D Gukesh defeated Czech Grandmaster Thai Dai Van Nguyen, while overnight joint leader Arjun Erigaisi suffered a shock loss to Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia in the fifth round of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee on January 22.
Gukesh’s victory, his first decisive result after four draws, took him to three points from five games and into joint fourth place ahead of the tournament’s first rest day. The 13-round event has nine rounds remaining.
At the top, Hans Moke Niemann of the United States and Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan drew their game, allowing them to stay among the joint leaders on 3.5 points. They were joined by Uzbekistan’s World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov, who beat Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus after sustained resistance.
With the leaders on 3.5 points, Gukesh shares fourth place on three points with Fedoseev and Dutchman Jorden van Foreest. Erigaisi slipped to joint seventh on 2.5 points, ahead of fellow Indians Aravindh Chithambaram and R Praggnanandhaa.
Playing with the black pieces in a Queen’s Indian Defence, Gukesh prevailed in a 51-move contest marked by deep calculation. He sacrificed a rook for a minor piece to mount sustained pressure, which Nguyen failed to withstand.
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“It was a nice grind,” Gukesh said, reflecting on the win. On his earlier draws, he added, “I was supposed to win the first one but I missed by a whisker. I'm pretty much happy with most of the games that I played so far. Although I didn't get the win I knew I was playing good, so it was expected that I would get it at some point.”
Arjun Erigaisi, playing white, ran into a risky line chosen by Fedoseev, who recovered strongly after losing his opener to Niemann. The Indian drifted into a passive middlegame, his pieces becoming centralised and his king exposed, and could not recover.
R Praggnanandhaa recorded his third draw of the tournament against Anish Giri of the Netherlands, while Aravindh Chithambaram lost to Germany’s Vincent Keymer to remain on 1.5 points after five rounds.
Round 5 results (Indians unless stated):
R Praggnanandhaa (1.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 1.5); Arjun Erigaisi (2.5) lost to Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo, 3); Thai Dai Van Nguyen (Cze, 1.5) lost to D Gukesh (3); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 3) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 2.5); Hans Moke Niemann (USA, 3.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 3.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 2.5) beat Aravindh Chithambaram (1.5); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 3.5) beat Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur, 2).
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