 "India's Aravindh Chithambaram and R Praggnanandhaa in action during Round 9 of Tata Steel Chess on Tuesday, 27 January. Image credit: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess")
Gukesh Dommaraju’s topsy-turvy run at the Tata Steel Chess continued on Tuesday with the reigning world champion suffering a third defeat in four games in the ninth round. Indian No 1 Arjun Erigaisi, on the other hand, extended his winless run since beating compatriot R Praggnanandhaa in the opening round by playing out a draw against Hans Niemann.
The same, however, cannot be said of defending champion ‘Pragg’, who had beaten Gukesh in the tie-breaks last year to become only the second Indian to win the prestigious tournament after Viswanathan Anand. The 20-year-old, after all, finally snapped his winless run in Netherlands’ Wijk aan Zee with a hard-fought victory in an all-Indian battle against Aravindh Chithambaram.
Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov remains in the lead with 6 points while compatriot Javokhir Sindarov is joint-second with Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus as well as Jorden van Foreest – one of the two Dutchmen competing in the Masters category.
How Praggnanandhaa defeated Aravindh to snap winless run
Both Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh had not collected a win in Tata Steel Chess 2026, and appeared equally determined to end that unwanted streak in the ninth round on Tuesday. That was evident in the manner in which both players fought hard and refused to give the other an inch, resulting in a game that dragged past the 80-move mark after a Queen’s Gambit Declined opening.
The game was off to an action-packed start with Praggnanandhaa playing as white, both players losing a bishop and a knight each inside the first 20 moves while making some ambitious advances with their queens. By the 40th move, both sets of knights and bishops as well as the queens were knocked off the board, with Aravindh and Pragg headed towards a rook endgame and the possibility of a draw appearing likely at this point.
That, however, merely marked the beginning of a battle of attrition, with both players converting a pawn by the 65th move after losing their remaining rooks. However, Pragg had gained a massive foothold over his opponent at this stage due to a pawn advantage, and had the eval bar heavily tilting in his favour for that reason.
It was that factor that ultimately led to Aravindh resigning in 84 moves.