R Praggnanandhaa took the sole lead of the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk Aan Zee with his third straight win, this time defeating 18-year-old Leon Luke Mendonca, while world champion Dommaraju Gukesh played out a battling six-hour, 70 move epic against Alexey Sarana to earn a draw. Arjun Erigaisi suffered a heart-breaking loss after dominating much of his game against Vladimir Fedoseev, while Pentala Harikrishna remained in contention with a win of his own over Max Warmerdam
Playing with white pieces, Praggnanandhaa earned his third straight win of the Tata Steel Chess Masters to move into the sole overall lead of the tournament with 3.5/4 so far. Curiously all three of his wins have come against his Indian counterparts, although he still has to face Gukesh. Fresh off an impressive win over Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa played a highly accurate game against Mendonca, who was in a fair amount of trouble after the Ruy Lopez opening. The Goan youngster was forced into an inaccuracy in his 24th move, with his knight allowing Praggnanandhaa an opening, which he went on to capitalise on. Mendonca fought bravely, but the writing was on the wall and he resigned on the 46th move.
Dommaraju Gukesh remained unbeaten as world champion after a gruelling six-hour, 70 move contest against Alexey Sarana. Playing with black pieces, Gukesh was constantly second to Sarana, who had the advantage for much of the game (and more material), but Gukesh found accurate moves when needed to force a draw, thus keeping him in contention with a score of 2.5/4 so far.
Pentala Harikrishna also climbed to 2.5/4 with a superb victory over the struggling Max Warmerdam, baiting him with a sacrifice of knights, but the Dutchman had a series of inaccurate moves in the endgame and despite a wobble from the Indian, he held on to grab the win.
Arjun Erigaisi seemed destined for a win over Vladimir Fedoseev, with his opponent making a fair number of errors, but the Indian fell into a trap with a pawn in the 27th move, sacrificing his knight in the process which proved to be a catastrophic mistake. The Indian tried battling on for 12 more moves, but Fedoseev made sure of the win with a series of accurate moves.
In the other games, Nodirbek Abdusattorov would be disappointed with a draw against Wei Yi from a winning position, thus also giving up the lead of the tournament. Fabiano Caruana ran into time trouble against a well=prepared Anish Giri but fashioned a draw out of a disadvantaged position, while Vincent Keymer’s attempts to wear Jordan van Foreest down came up a cropper and he had to be satisfied with a draw.
Round 4 Results at 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters
R Praggnanandhaa 1-0 Leon Luke Mendonca
Alexey Sarana 0.5-0.5 Dommaraju Gukesh
Arjun Erigaisi 0-1 Vladimir Fedoseev
Pentala Harikrishna 1-0 Max Warmerdam
Fabiano Caruana 0.5-0.5 Anish Giri
Nodirbek Abdusattorov 0.5-0.5 Wei Yi
Vincent Keymer 0.5-0.5 Jordan van Foreest
Standings after Round 4
R Praggnanandhaa: 3.5
Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 3
Fabiano Caruana: 2.5
Dommaraju Gukesh: 2 .5
Vincent Keymer: 2.5
Vladimir Fedoseev: 2.5
Pentala Harikrishna: 2.5
Wei Yi: 2
Alexey Sarana: 2
Anish Giri: 1.5
Jordan van Foreest: 1.5
Max Warmerdam: 1
Leon Luke Mendonca: 0.5
Arjun Erigaisi: 0.5
