Tata Steel Masters 2025: D Gukesh Back To Winning Ways; Praggnanandhaa R and Nodirbek Abdusattorov Share The Lead

D Gukesh ensured a crucial win in Round 5 of the Tata Steel Masters while R Praggnanandhaa played a draw.

Netherlands: D Gukesh was part of the longest game in round 5 of the Masters Section in the Tata Steel Masters against Vincent Keymer, a member of the team he assembled during the preparation for the World Chess Championship. After a gruelling battle of 72 moves, Gukesh got back to winning ways in the competition played in Wijk aan Zee on Wednesday. Gukesh was wearing his familiar grey hoodie which showed the glitter of a world champion.

Although, Gukesh made a few errors here and there he dominated the proceedings for the major part of the contest. Keymer’s persistence was breached eventually against Gukesh’s game reading and thus, the current world champion recorded a win. It was the second victory of the competition for the 18-year-old and the first after three draws in a row.

Praggnanandhaa pressed aggressively in the fixture against Max Warmerdam but the game ended in a draw after a sequence of 39 moves as neither of the players were able to find a breakthrough. It was Praggnanandhaa’s second draw of the tournament.

In the battle of Arjun Erigaisi and Leon Luke Mendonca - two players who are struggling to find their best form, a stalemate was recorded. Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri held Alexey Sarana to a draw and kept his hopes of winning the tournament alive.

Divya Deshmukh conceded a defeat against Erwin l'Ami while Vaishali Rameshbabu played a draw against Frederik Svane. In another fixture, 15-year-old Lu Miaoyi registered their first defeat of the tournament losing against Dutch GrandMaster Benjamin Bok.