Tata Steel Masters

The Tata Steel Masters is one of the most prestigious elite events, now in its 87th edition. As the gong chimed for the start of the round in the Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee last Sunday, two Indian teenagers remained in contention for first place. One was the newly crowned world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, unbeaten despite a couple of dicey moments in earlier rounds. The other was Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who had played the more consistent tournament overall. Gukesh looked more likely to win his final game, as he had the white pieces against Arjun Erigaisi, whose high-octane play had backfired repeatedly and left him near the bottom of the table. Praggnanandhaa had Black against Germany’s Vincent Keymer, who was not in his best form, but never looked likely to lose that day.

There was a third contender, though probably nobody suspected it. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, from Uzbekistan, was a whole point behind the two leaders, so even if he won, he would never have expected to catch them both up. Gukesh had not lost a game in Wijk aan Zee, while before the final round Praggnanandhaa had won three games in a row, including the splendid win from the penultimate round (shown below).

Pushing for the win, Gukesh invited complications against Erigaisi, with the kings castled on opposite sides of the board. But Erigaisi, who had scored his first win of the event just the day before, looked revitalised and won an excellent attacking game. Meanwhile Praggnanandhaa had a solid position against Keymer until a clever pawn sacrifice from the latter left him in serious difficulties.

Abdusattorov didn’t win his game anyway, so the only question was – would Praggnanandhaa cling on for a draw and secure outright tournament victory? For hours he was stuck defending a miserable position without a shred of counterplay, and his chances steadily dwindled.