Tata Steel Masters: Gukesh beats Warmerdam to stay in sole lead

Wijk Aan Zee: World champion D Gukesh defeated Dutch Grandmaster Max Warmerdam to stay in sole lead on 7.5 points at the end of the 10th round of Tata Steel Chess tournament here.

It was another eventful day for Gukesh who is now closing in on the 2800-rating barrier. The victory with black came easily when Warmerdam missed the line after being level for quite some time.

It was a closed Sicilian where Gukesh knocked down a couple of pawns to force resignation in 34 moves.

The youngest world champion is a half point ahead of nearest rival Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan. Holding the sole third spot is R Praggnanandhaa on 6.5 points after a finely crafted victory over Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia.

Arjun Erigaisi's hunt for an elusive victory continued for the 10th day running as he drew with Vincent Keymer of Germany.

P Harikrishna defended a slightly worse rook endgame to hold his fort against top seed Fabiano Caruana of the United States, while Leon Luke Mendonca played out a draw with Anish Giri.

Praggnanandhaa came up with a dominating performance against Fedoseev who chose the Tarrasch defense as black. The opening saw Praggnanandhaa getting a structural advantage and he nurtured it quite well in the middle game.

The game was devoid of drama towards the end as Praggnanandhaa sacrificed all his pawns to make a new queen on board. The calculation was perfect and it was all over in 48 moves.

Keymer showcased his opening preparation to hold Erigaisi easily. The closed Ruy Lopez did not put up enough challenge and Keymer sacrificed a pawn early to maintain parity. Erigaisi had to give the pawn back in the middle game and the position just petered out to be level.

Harikrishna had to face some stiff resistance against Caruana who played black. Down a pawn in the rook and pawns endgame, Harikrishna made use of his remaining resources and drew after 68 moves.

In the Challengers' section, R Vaishali went down fighting against tournament leader Nguyen Thai Van Dai of the Czech Republic while Divya Deshmukh lost another game in the event against Frederik Svane of Germany. Vaishali, on five points, shares the ninth spot and Divya, on two, is on 13th spot in the 14-players round-robin tournament.

Just three rounds remain in the first major of the year.

Results: Round 10:

Masters: Leon Luke Mendonca (Ind, 3) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 5); R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 6.5) beat Vladimir Fedoseev (6); Max Warmerdam (Ned, 3.5) lost to D Gukesh (Ind, 7.5); P Harikrishna (4.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA, 5.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 5.5) drew with Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4); Arjun Erigaisi (Ind, 3) drew with Vincent Keymer (Ger, 4); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 7) beat Alexey Sarana (Srb, 5).

Challengers: Nguyen Thai Van Dam (Cze, 7.5) beat R Vaishali (Ind, 5); Divya Deshmukh (2) lost to Frederik Svane (Ger, 6); Yakubboev Nodirbek (Uzb, 5) drew with Benjamin Bok (Ned, 6.5); Arthur Pijpers (Ned, 4.5) beat Irina Bulmaga (Rom, 1); Suleymanli Aydin (Aze, 6.5) beat Nogerbek Kazybek (Kaz, 5); Miaoyi Lu (Chn, 5.5) drew with Ediz Gurel (Tur, 5.5); Erwin L’Ami (Ned, 7) beat Faustino Oro (Arg, 2.5).