NEW DELHI: India’s No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi suffered his third defeat during the fourth round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025 in Wijk aan Zee on Tuesday. With only 0.5 points out of the inaugural four rounds, Arjun finds himself at the bottom of the Masters leaderboard, alongside compatriot Leon Luke Mendonca.
Playing with the white pieces against Russia’s Vladimir Fedoseev, Arjun opened with the Queen’s Gambit Declined (QGD) in a Classical variation. Despite a strong start, Arjun lost the momentum on the 15th move with a costly blunder, Ne2, allowing Fedoseev to seize a pawn with fxg4.
A series of three suboptimal moves from Fedoseev briefly gave Arjun hope of a comeback. However, Arjun’s decision to capture a pawn on f5 with his knight proved fatal, as Fedoseev countered with Qxf5, netting a decisive advantage. With 10 minutes still on the clock, Arjun resigned on the 39th move, with Fedoseev up a knight.
While Arjun’s poor run in the tournament continued at one end of the room, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu showed no hints of slowing his impressive run, becoming the sole leader of the tournament with a dominant victory over Leon Luke Mendonca. This marked Praggnanandhaa’s third win, all against his fellow Indians — Pentala Harikrishna, Arjun Erigaisi, and now Mendonca.
In a game featuring the Ruy-Lopez (Spanish Opening), Praggnanandhaa displayed exceptional precision, playing with a remarkable 94.3% accuracy.
In a daring sequence, he sacrificed his queen with Rxe4, decisively dismantling Mendonca’s defensive setup. Leon eventually resigned on the 46th move as Praggnanandhaa’s relentless play left him with no hope of recovery.
With this win, and a draw between Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Wei Yi, Praggnanandhaa now leads the tournament standings with 3.5/4 and climbs to World No. 8 in the live rankings.
Pentala Harikrishna had a quick and efficient day, finishing his game in just 23 moves against the Netherlands’ Max Warmerdam.
Despite a misstep on the 21st move (Rf3+), which briefly handed the advantage to Max, a subsequent blunder by Warmerdam (Kg6) sealed his fate, allowing Harikrishna to claim the win. Harikrishna’s performance was nearly flawless, with a 92.9% accuracy score.
In another encounter, World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana, playing white, and Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri battled to a subtle 36-move draw. Meanwhile, D. Gukesh played out a gruelling 70-move draw against Alexey Sarana in an intense battle.
In the Challengers section, Vaishali Rameshbabu scored a comfortable victory against Nodirbek Yakubboev. Divya Deshmukh, playing with the white pieces, displayed her attacking acumen to secure her first win of the tournament against Ediz Gurel.
After struggling in the initial rounds, this win raises the question of whether Divya can turn her campaign around in the upcoming games.
Elsewhere, 15-year-old Miaoyi Lu held Irina Bulmaga to a draw, maintaining her position at the top of the table along with Thai Dai van Nguyen and Erwin l’Ami.
Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025: Round 4
- Masters standings: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (3.5/4), Nodirbek Abdusattorov, (3/4), Gukesh D (2.5/4), Caruana Fabiano (2.5/4), Vladimir Fedoseev (2.5/4), Vincent Keymer (2.5/4), Pentala Harikrishna (2.5/4), Wei Yi (2/4), Alexey Sarana (2/4), Anish Giri (1.5/4), Max Warmerdam (1/4), Jorden van Foreest (1/4), Leon Luke Mendonca (0.5/4), Arjun Erigaisi (0.5/4).
- Challengers standings: Miaoyi Lu (3/4), Thai Dai van Nguyen (3/4), Erwin l’Ami (3/4), Aydin Suleymanli (2.5/4), Benjamin Bok (2.5/4), Vaishali Rameshbabu (2.5/4), Kazybek Nogerbek (2/4), Frederik Svane (2/4), Ediz Gurel (2/4), Divya Deshmukh (1.5/4), Nodirbek Yakubboev (1.5/4), Arthur Pijpers (1/4), Faustino Oro (1/4), Irina Bulmaga (0.5/4).