Tata Steel Chess R4: Pragg scores third win in a row, leads

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
1/22/2025 – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu claimed a third consecutive win in the Tata Steel Masters, defeating Leon Luke Mendonca to take the sole lead after four rounds. Pentala Harikrishna and Vladimir Fedoseev also scored victories, with Harikrishna winning in just 23 moves against Max Warmerdam and Fedoseev defeating an out-of-form Arjun Erigaisi. In the Challengers, Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Erwin l'Ami and Lu Miaoyi retained their co-lead after drawing their games, while Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh and Benjamin Bok secured wins to close the gap at the top. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes
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Strategic prowess

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu secured his third consecutive victory to become the sole leader in the Tata Steel Masters after four rounds. Playing with white against Leon Luke Mendonca, Pragg displayed excellent strategic understanding in a Ruy Lopez. An early middlegame advantage led to an extra pawn, which he converted with precision into a 46-move win. With a score of 3½/4, the 19-year-old has gained 14.2 rating points, climbing five spots to number eight in the live ratings.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who shared the lead with Pragg after three rounds, missed a critical opportunity in his game against defending champion Wei Yi. Playing white, Abdusattorov could have gained a clear edge with 15.c5, as after 15...Bxd3 16.Qxd3 bxc5 17.Qb5+ Nc6 18.dxc5, White would have been in the driver’s seat.

However, he chose 15.Bf4 instead, allowing Wei to stabilise. The game eventually ended in a 43-move draw, leaving Abdusattorov half a point behind Pragg.

Two other draws were Fabiano Caruana v. Anish Giri and Alexey Sarana v. Gukesh Dommaraju. Caruana and Gukesh, both in dangerous positions, managed to salvage half points. Gukesh was particularly tested, as Sarana pushed hard in their encounter. Both players now stand at +1, a full point behind the leader.

Alexey Sarana

Alexey Sarana facing world champion Gukesh | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

Pentala Harikrishna and Vladimir Fedoseev also scored victories in round four. Harikrishna played an impressive game against Max Warmerdam, sacrificing a knight on f7 early in the game to disrupt his opponent's king position. The attack culminated in a crushing victory in just 23 moves. Harikrishna later noted that his participation as a second in team Gukesh during the World Championship match against Ding Liren had significantly sharpened his play. (Find below expert analysis of the game by GM Daniel King).

Vladimir Fedoseev's victory came at the expense of an out-of-form Arjun Erigaisi, who continues his streak of poor performances in Wijk aan Zee. After winning the Challengers section in 2022 with an impressive 10½/13, Arjun struggled in the Masters the following year, scoring no wins and suffering five losses. His difficulties have carried into this year's edition, where he has started with three losses and a single draw, leaving him with a disappointing ½/4 score.

In his game against Fedoseev, Arjun had a clear advantage at one point but began to lose control after his 26th move. The critical mistake came on move 27 when he played 27.Nxf5 instead of the accurate 27.Re1.

This error by the Indian allowed Fedoseev to execute 27...Qxf5 28.Rxf5 Rxg3 29.hxg3 Ne3, forking Arjun's rooks.

With a decisive material advantage, Fedoseev efficiently converted the position to secure his first victory of the event.

Vladimir Fedoseev, Arjun Erigaisi

Vladimir Fedoseev defeated Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

Praggnanandhaa 1 - 0 Mendonca

Analysis by André Schulz

Expert commentary

Analysis by GM Daniel King

Analysis by IM Sagar Shah

Round 4 results

Standings

All games

Challengers: Wins for Vaishali, Divya and Bok

Following a round in which all seven games ended decisively, favouring the players with the white pieces, Tuesday's fourth round of the Tata Steel Challengers section saw three games ending decisively. The three co-leaders - Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Erwin l'Ami and 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi - drew their respective games and remain tied at the top of the standings.

The decisive results came from Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh and Benjamin Bok. Vaishali demonstrated strong tactical play to defeat Nodirbek Yakubboev with the black pieces. Divya overcame Ediz Gürel in a positional game that lasted 56 moves, while Bok outplayed Faustino Oro, the 11-year-old Argentine talent, who struggled to keep pace in their encounter.

Vaishali, Bok and Aydin Suleymanli now form the chasing pack, sitting half a point behind the leading trio. Suleymanli signed three draws so far, and defeated Divya in the all-decisive third round on Monday.

Divya Deshmukh

Divya Deshmukh | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

Benjamin Bok

Benjamin Bok | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

Yakubboev 0 - 1 Vaishali

Analysis by André Schulz

Round 4 results

Standings

All games

Links

Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.