 "Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh (right) in action against Germany's Vincent Keymer during Round 5 of the Tata Steel Chess tournament. Image credit: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess")
Reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju returned to winning ways at the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands after collecting three consecutive draws. Gukesh defeated German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer in Round 5 of the elite tournament on Wednesday to remain in the top three.
Fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, remained on top of the Masters standings with four points out of a possible five, collecting a draw against Dutch GM and local favourite Max Warmerdam on Wednesday after a hat-trick of victories against his compatriots. Among the other Indians in action, Arjun Erigaisi and Leon Mendonca played out a draw and remained at the bottom of the 14-player Masters section with one point each out of a possible five.
In other results, world No 2 Fabiano Caruana, the top-ranked player at the event, fell out of the top five in the Masters standings after losing to Russian-born Slovenian player Vladimir Fedoseev in the fifth round.
Gukesh pulls off hard-fought victory
Gukesh fought a pitched battle against Keymer, who was part of the team that helped him defeat China’s Ding Liren at the FIDE World Championship in Singapore last month, with the game lasting 72 moves, the longest in Round 5.
Opting for an Indian Game opening, with Keymer developing it into a Nimzo-Indian defence, both players castled within the first 10 moves with Gukesh advancing his Queen by the Move 7. Both players were guilty of committing mistakes, with Gukesh giving his opponent multiple chances to stage a comeback.
As was the case in his victory in Game 14 against Ding last month, Gukesh persisted till the very end, refusing to play out a fourth consecutive stalemate, and Keymer – facing time pressure – eventually resigned.
Gukesh had earlier defeated Dutch GM Anish Giri in the opening round before collecting draws against Vladimir Fedoseev, Fabiano Caruana and Alexey Sarana.
Tata Steel Chess 2025 Masters standings after five rounds:
1. R Praggnanandhaa (4/5)
2. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (4/5)
3. D Gukesh (3.5/5)
4. Vladimir Fedoseev (3.5/5)
5. Harikrishna Pentala (3/5)
6. Wei Yi (2.5/5)
7. Fabiano Caruana (2.5/5)
8. Alexey Sarana (2.5/5)
9. Vincent Keymer (2.5/5)
10. Anish Giri (2/5)
11. Max Warmerdam (1.5/5)
12. Jorden van Foreest (1.5/5)
13. Leon Luke Mendonca (1/5)
14. Arjun Erigaisi (1/5)