Tata Steel Chess R11: Pragg beats Caruana, climbs to second place

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
2/1/2025 – The fight for first place remains fierce in both sections of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament with two rounds to go. In the Masters, Gukesh Dommaraju retained the sole lead, but Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu closed the gap by scoring a crucial win over Fabiano Caruana. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, Erwin l'Ami emerged as the new sole leader after defeating Lu Miaoyi, while Thai Dai Van Nguyen suffered a setback against Frederik Svane. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes
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A three-horse race

With two rounds to go, three players remain in the fight for the title at the Tata Steel Masters. Gukesh Dommaraju, the reigning world champion, is still the sole leader, with 8 points to his name, while Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu stand a half point behind. Three players are sharing fourth place a full two points behind the leader and do not have realistic chances of claiming the title.

Round 11 on Friday saw Pragg catching Abdusattorov by scoring a memorable win over Fabiano Caruana. The youngster showed stronger nerves than his more experienced opponent to prevail amid a double-edged middlegame in which both contenders were dealing with pressing time trouble. This was Pragg's second consecutive win, which came after his loss in round 9 against Anish Giri.

Abdusattorov, on his part, could easily be tied for first at this point, as he missed a huge chance to catch Gukesh in his game against Vincent Keymer. The Uzbek GM got a clear advantage, but failed to find a killer blow on move 31, and then mistakenly allowed a queen exchange while still in the driver's seat.

Pragg was not the only winner of the day, though, as Giri, Pentala Harikrishna and Leon Luke Mendonca also collected full points. Mendonca thus obtained his first win of the event, as he defeated Vladimir Fedoseev with the black pieces. The winner of last year's Challengers had three times lost with black in the previous rounds.

Gukesh Dommaraju

Gukesh Dommaraju, the reigning world champion, remains as the sole leader in the Masters | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

Caruana 0 - 1 Praggnanandhaa

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1.e41,176,06054%2421---
1.d4953,87055%2434---
1.Nf3284,20556%2440---
1.c4183,53956%2442---
1.g319,81456%2427---
1.b314,49754%2428---
1.f45,93048%2377---
1.Nc33,86450%2384---
1.b41,77748%2379---
1.a31,24554%2406---
1.e31,07649%2409---
1.d396450%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446554%2381---
1.c343651%2426---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411759%2462---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Nge2 Re8 9.h3 Nbd7 10.Qc2 Nf8 11.0-0-0 A brave decision by Caruana, who goes for a game with castling on opposite sides. In this position, women's world champion Ju Wenjun, for example, had castled short against Kateryna Lagno in the World Rapid Championship last year. b5
A novelty. Pragg immediately expands on the queenside. 12.Kb1 a5 13.f3 13.e4 was an interesting alternative, and e.g. b4 Or the more positional 13...Be7 14.e5 N6d7 15.Bxe7 Qxe7 16.f4 14.e5 bxc3 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.exd6 cxb2 with a wild position. 13...Be7 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.e4 a4 16.a3 b4 For the time being, Black is quicker with his pawns on the queenside - though his pieces are somewhat undeveloped still. 17.axb4 a3 18.b3 Qb6 19.Ka2 dxe4 20.fxe4 Bxd4 21.Nxd4 Qxd4 22.b5 Bd7 23.Bc4 Qa7 24.bxc6 Bxc6 25.Rhf1 Re7 26.Nd5 Rb7 27.Rf5
27...Rc8 Caruana has handled the complications exemplarily, and now his army looks slightly better coordinated. Both players had less than 10 minutes for 13 moves at this point (with 30-second increments per move). 28.Qd3 Not the most precise. Stronger is 28.Qf2 inviting a queen trade, e. g.: Be8 28...Qxf2+ 29.Rxf2 Re8 30.Ba6 Ra7 31.Bd3 Ne6 32.Rc2 Ba8 33.b4 and White is for choice. 29.Qxa7 Rxa7 30.Nb6 Rb8 31.Rd6 with more active pieces for White in the queenless position. 28...Ne6 29.Rdf1 Be8 30.R5f2 Qb8 31.Rc2 Nc5 Pragg has dealt with the time pressure better than his more experienced opponent, and has created a number of tactical threats connected to a potential invasion along the b-file. 32.Qe3 This imprecision is the result of a miscalculation. Better is 32.Qe2 which does not allow what followed in the game, i.e.: Nxb3 33.Bxb3 Rxb3 fails to 34.Ne7+ with a fork. 32...Nxb3 33.Rb1 Now 33.Bxb3 is not possible due to Rxc2+ and the queen cannot capture the rook, like in the aforementioned line after 32.Qe2. 33...Ba4
Black is winning. 34.Bd3 This only makes matter worse. Nc5 35.Ne7+ Kh8 36.Rxb7 36.Nxc8 Bxc2 37.Rxb7 Qxb7 threatening mate on b2. 36...Qxb7 37.Ba6 Qxe7 With both rooks under attack, Caruana resigned. He is a piece and a pawn down. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2803Praggnanandhaa,R27410–12025D3587th Tata Steel Masters 202511.5

Keymer ½ - ½ Abdusattorov

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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.h3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Nb4 A rarely seen move. More often, White goes for Bb5+ or Be2, avoiding the immediate minor-piece exchange. 7.Ne5 The main line goes: 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Bxd7+ Qxd7 9.c3 Nc6 10.0-0 e6 7...Nxd3+ 8.Qxd3 e6 9.Nc3 A novelty by Keymer. Bd7 10.0-0 Rc8 11.Re1 Be7 12.Bg5 0-0 13.a4 Be8 14.a5 a6 15.Qd2 Qc7 16.Re3 Kh8 17.Nd3 Bb5 18.Ne5 Be8 19.Rf3 Ng8 20.Bf4 Qd8 21.Nd3 Nf6 22.Nc5 Bc6 23.b4 Ne4 24.N3xe4 dxe4 25.Rg3 Qd5 26.Re1 Qf5 27.c3 f6
28.h4 An inaccuracy by Keymer, who should have continued to manoeuvre his pieces around. Weakening his kingside with the h-pawn push gave Abdusattorov chances to create tactical difficulties for his opponent in the middlegame. 28.Be3 Bd6 29.Rg4 and the tense struggle continues - though Black is also for choice here. 28...e5 After spending 6 of the 30 minutes he had left on the clock, Abdusattorov makes the right decision, immediately opening up a central file. 29.dxe5 Rcd8 30.Qe3 Bxc5 31.bxc5
At this point, Keymer had 2 minutes to Abdusattorov's 19. Despite the time advantage, though, the Uzbek GM failed to find the killer blow in this position. 31...Rd3 31...g5 would have ended the game quickly, since after 32.hxg5 fxg5 33.Bxg5 Rd3 White cannot deal with all the threats, now that Black's queen and rooks are perfectly coordinated - there is a potential capture on f2, and there is no way to save the bishop without making major concessions. E.g.: 34.Qe2 Rxg3 35.fxg3 Qxg5 and White is doomed. 32.Qc1 fxe5 33.Bxe5 Qxf2+ 34.Kh2 Rxg3 35.Bxg3 Qxc5 The line calculated by Abdusattorov still gave him a better endgame with an extra pawn, but here White is still alive and with chances to fight for a draw in the technical phase of the game. 36.Bc7 Rf7 37.Qd2 h6 38.Bb6
38...Qe7 Another mistake by Abdusattorov, allowing Keymer to force the exchange of queens. Better is 38...Qh5 39.g3 Qg6 40.Re3 Rf1 and keeping more pieces on the board favours Black. 39.Qd8+ Qxd8 40.Bxd8 Rf2 41.Bb6 Ra2 42.h5 e3 43.Rxe3 Rxg2+ 44.Kh3 Kg8 45.Bd4 Rg1 46.Re7 Rg5 47.Kh4 With bishops of opposite colours, Keymer managed to defend this position thanks to his active pieces and careful handling of the endgame. Kf8 48.Rc7 Be4 49.Bb6 Kg8 50.Rc8+ Kh7 51.Rc7 Bf3 52.Bd4 Bxh5 53.Rxb7 Be2 54.Re7 Bf1 55.Rf7 Bc4 56.Re7 Bd3 57.Kh3 Bf5+ 58.Kh2 Rg4 59.Rc7 Bd3 60.Rc5 Bb5 61.Kh3 Rg6 62.Rc7 Bf1+ 63.Kh4 Bd3 64.Kh3 h5 65.Rc5 Be2 66.Re5 Bf3 67.Re3 Bd1 68.Re1 Bg4+ 69.Kh4 Kg8 70.Re5 Rd6 71.Re7 Rg6 72.Re5 Rc6 73.Re7 g6 74.Rb7 Re6 75.Kg5 Bf5 76.Rb6 Kf7 77.Rxe6 Kxe6 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Keymer,V2733Abdusattorov,N2768½–½2025B1387th Tata Steel Masters 202511.3

Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer

Nodirbek Abdusattorov tried hard but could not defeat Vincent Keymer | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

Expert commentary

Analysis by GM Daniel King

Analysis by IM Sagar Shah

Round 11 results

NameRtg.Nt.Pts.Pts.NameRtgNt.
Gukesh,D
2777
7½
½-½
5½
Wei,Y
2751
Caruana,F
2803
5½
0-1
6½
Praggnanandhaa,R
2741
Keymer,V
2733
4
½-½
7
Abdusattorov,N
2768
Sarana,A
2677
5
0-1
4½
Harikrishna,P
2695
Fedoseev,V
2717
6
0-1
3
Mendonca,L
2639
Giri,A
2731
5
1-0
3½
Warmerdam,M
2646
Van Foreest,J
2680
4
½-½
3
Erigaisi,A
2801

Standings

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Challengers: L'Ami leapfrogs Nguyen

Five out of seven games ended decisively in the Challengers section, including three games that greatly impacted the top of the standings. Frederik Svane defeated Thai Dai Van Nguyen, who entered the round as the sole leader; Erwin l'Ami, who was Nguyen's closest chaser, beat Lu Miaoyi; and Aydin Suleymanli got the better of Vaishali Rameshbabu. These results left L'Ami in sole first place, followed closely by Nguyen and Suleymanli a half point back.

Curiously, all three games that impacted the top of the standings featured the eventual winner converting his advantage in a superior rook endgame. Not all rook endgames are drawn!

L'Ami, for example, had five pawns to Lu's four in a rook ending.

Lu v. L'Ami

Svane, on his part, made the most of his outside passer in a position with four versus four pawns against Nguyen.

Nguyen v. Svane

Friday's round also saw Divya Deshmukh beating Irina Bulmaga and Nodirbek Yakubboev defeating Faustino Oro. In both cases, the winner had the black pieces.

Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Frederik Svane

This was Frederik Svane's second win in a row | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

Erwin l'Ami

Erwin l'Ami | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

Round 11 results

Standings

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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.
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