1/30/2025 – Round 10 of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament saw the frontrunners in both the Masters and Challengers sections claiming crucial victories. In the Masters, Gukesh Dommaraju held onto his lead by beating Max Warmerdam, while Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu also won to keep the title race tight. Similarly, in the Challengers, Thai Dai Van Nguyen remained in first place with a win, with Erwin l'Ami and Aydin Suleymanli also scoring full points to stay in the race for overall victory. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes
new: Fritz 20
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
ChessBase is re-releasing this timeless classic in the modern ChessBase Media format - complete with brand-new training features. Get ready to rediscover a masterpiece of chess instruction!
€49.90
Gukesh, Abdusattorov and Pragg score
Gukesh Dommaraju remains in the sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters after scoring his fifth victory of the event, this time against Max Warmerdam with the black pieces. The world champion has shown remarkable consistency, collecting five wins and five draws in his first ten games. His closest chasers also won on Wednesday, with Nodirbek Abdusattorov beating Alexey Sarana to stay half a point behind, while Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu got the better of Vladimir Fedoseev to stand in sole third place, a full point behind the leader.
Gukesh surprised Warmerdam right from the opening, responding to 1.e4 with 1...d6 and prompting an unusual 2.g3 from his opponent. In the complex struggle ensued, both players eventually found themselves in time trouble. Warmerdam faltered amid a tricky middlegame, allowing Gukesh to break through and convert his advantage.
Abdusattorov, meanwhile, played an aggressive early 7.g4 against Sarana, leading to a wild tactical battle. The Serbian grandmaster blundered in severe time pressure with 39...Kf8 instead of 39...Kg8, missing a crucial defensive resource.
Doesn’t every chess game get decided by mistakes? Absolutely. But most players never truly comprehend that they are making the same kind of mistakes over and over again.
After the text move, 40.Nxf6+ left Black unable to recapture with 40...Rxf6 due to 41.Qa8+, with checkmate incoming on e8. Had the king been on g8, it could have escaped via h7. Sarana tried 40...Qd1+, but White's king escaped the checks and Abdusattorov went on to convert his material advantage into a crucial victory.
Pragg’s victory was more straightforward, as Fedoseev misplayed the opening and found himself on the back foot early on. The Slovenian grandmaster put up stiff resistance, complicating the position, but Pragg showed good technique to convert his advantage.
In Friday's round 11, Gukesh will face defending champion Wei Yi with the white pieces, while Abdusattorov will take on Vincent Keymer with black.
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.
Abdusattorov 1 - 0 Sarana
Analysis by Johannes Fischer
Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes
From Mating with a queen; a rook; two bishops; a knight and a bishop; to the basics of pawn endgames – here you will gain the necessary know-how to turn your endgame advantages into victories!
Round 10 results
Standings
All games
Challengers: Nguyen beats Vaishali, leads
Similarly to the Masters section, the frontrunners in the Challengers scored important victories in round 10. Thai Dai Van Nguyen (like Gukesh) remained in the sole lead after winning his game, Erwin l'Ami (like Abdusattorov) grabbed a full point to stay half a point behind, while Aydin Suleymanli (like Pragg) won to join Benjamin Bok in third place, a further half point back. Unlike the top section, which saw only three decisive games, five players claimed victories in the Challengers on Wednesday, with Frederik Svane and Arthur Pijpers also scoring wins.
This course will enhance your understanding of the King’s Indian Defence. Perfect for anyone looking to improve their opening strategy, reduce mistakes, and develop a winning game plan.
With three rounds to go and three players within a point of the leader, the race for first place remains wide open. The ultimate prize at stake is a spot in next year's Masters, making each remaining game crucial. The only remaining direct clash between the top four contenders will take place in the final round on Sunday, when Bok will have the white pieces against Nguyen.
Before that, in Friday's round 11, Nguyen and l'Ami will both have to navigate difficult challenges with the black pieces. The leader is set to face Svane, who comes from a victory, while his closest rival will take on the ambitious Lu Miaoyi, who has already proven to be a tough opponent in Wijk aan Zee.
Divya 0 - 1 Svane
Analysis by Johannes Fischer
Frederik Svane | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos 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.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
For the Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbook 2026 the ratings average was set again at 2400. 2.24 million games from the engine room of playchess.com met this threshold, to which were added over 130 000 games played by humans.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
€19.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
.jpeg)
