Tata Steel Chess 2025: D Gukesh maintains lead after draw against Wei Yi, R Praggnanandhaa stuns Fabiano Caruana

World chess champion Dommaraju Gukesh remains at the top of standings after playing out a draw against China’s Wei Yi in round 11 of the 2025 Tata Steel Chess tournament in Netherlands’ Wijk aan Zee on Friday. Gukesh now has 8 points out of a possible 11 in the Tata Steel Chess tournament and leads the joint second-placed R Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusatttarov by 0.5 points.

Praggnandhaa clinched a victory over Fabiano Caruana. Gukesh’s ratings have climbed by 16 points and has 2793 rating points, which is one point lesser than his career-best rating points of 2794 which he achieved in October last year.

Gukesh vs Wei Yi match wrap

Against Wei Yi, Gukesh opted to play the Italian Opening and by the fifth move, both players ended up castling. In move eight, Gukesh sacrificed Wei’s queen with Qxd8, a move that persuaded Wei yi to play Rfxd8.

Towards the endgame, both Gukesh and Wei Yi had a rook each, and while Gukesh looked to capitalise with his bishop, Wei Yi did so by using his knight. However, neither player could get that breakthrough and both of them agreed to draws.

In the Praggnanandhaa vs Caruana game, the Indian used the Agincourt Defence against Caruana’s English Opening. It was an evenly-fought match until the 32nd move, when the Indian capitalised on Caruana’s blunder, when he played Qe3, and five moves later, Praggnanandhaa walked away with the win.

In other games, P Harikrishna defeated Alexey Sarana whereas Leon Luke Mendonca got the better of Vladimir Fedoseev. Arjun Erigaisi played out a draw against Jorden van Foreest. Divya Deshmukh defeated Irina Bulmaga in the Challengers category, whereas R Vaishali went down to Aydin Suleymanli.

Tata Steel Chess standings

Masters: D Gukesh (8.0), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (7.5), Praggnanandhaa (7.5), Vladimir Fedosev (6.0), Anish Giri (6.0), Wei Yi (6.0), Fabiano Caruana (5.5), P Harikrishna (5.5), Alexey Sarana (5.0), Jorden van Foreest (4.5), Vincent Keymer (4.5), Leon Luke Mendonca (4.0), Arjun Erigaisi (3.5), Max Warmerdam (3.5).

Challengers: Erwin l’Ami (8.0), Thai Dai Van Nguyen (7.5), Aydin Suleymanli (7.5), Benjamin Bok (7.0), Frederik Svane (7.0), Kazybek Nogerbek (6.0), Nodirbek Yakubboev (6.0), Ediz Gurel (6.0), Miaoyi Lu (5.5), Arthur Pijpers (5.0), R Vaishali (5.0), Divya Deshmukh (3.0), Faustino Oro (2.5), Irina Bulmaga (1.0)