Team Gukesh from the FIDE World Championship 2024 were the only winners in round one of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands, on Saturday evening. First, D Gukesh won his first game as the reigning world champion, defeating Anish Giri of the Netherlands with white pieces It was a dramatic finish to Gukesh's first game back on the board after becoming world chess champion in 2024, as he nearly lost the game with multiple blunders but Giri's late blunder himself gifted the Indian the win.
Arjun Erigasi went down to Pentala Harikrishna, with wild swings in that game as well. 18-year-old Leon Mendonca of Goa lost his game against Vincent Keymer (also a part of Gukesh's seconds at the World Championship) with white pieces. Mendonca was in advantage for much of the game, playing very accurately for much of the match. R Praggnandhaa earned a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Gukesh reached Wijk Aan Zee in Netherlands only a few hours before the tournament began, after receiving the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna yesterday. The expectations were of a quick draw, but Gukesh used up plenty of time in a Catalan Opening: Closed beginning to the game. Gukesh and Giri traded inaccuracies for much of the game, and despite white taking plenty of material off the board, a blunder in the 24th move handed Giri the advantage. However, the Dutchman was unable to force home the advantage with a series of inaccuracies as well.
However, Gukesh went down to time trouble, and a blunder in the 33rd move (h3) with two seconds left on the clock saw the engine swing heavily in Giri's favour. The Dutchman responded with a heavily engine accurate move (Be4) that all but earned him the victory. Gukesh scrambled away with the clock ticking down, but Giri himself felt the time pressure and committed a game-defining error with Qb6 in the 35th move, having missed out on a winning move. Gukesh sparked a queen exchange with the next move that guaranteed the win, and after hitting time increment after move 40, the two players took a break. The writing was already on the wall as Giri resigned after Gukesh's 42nd move of the game, collapsing back when Gukesh showed him the winning move in the post-game discussion.
Elsewhere, the all Indian clash between Pentala Harikrisha (part of Gukesh's world champion team) and Arjun Erigaisi saw a Sicilian defence opening with Harikrisha having a slight advantage throughout much of the game, and even after 42 moves, as things stood. R Praggnanandhaa survived time trouble against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, nearly losing the game in a series of quick exchanges, but accurate play coupled with errors from his opponent as the time ticked down saw the Indian come back into the game, earning an equal position. The two players agreed a draw after move 46.
Wei Yi of China grabbed a draw with white against the highest-rated player in the tournament, Fabiano Caruana, which was the first result of the tournament.
Results
Pentala Harikrishna 1-0 Arjun Erigaisi
R Praggnanandhaa 0.5-0.5 Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Leon Mendonca 0-1 Vincent Keymer
Gukesh Dommaraju 1-0 Anish Giri
Wei Yi 0.5 - 0.5 Fabiano Caruana
Jorden van Foreest 0.5-0.5 Vladimir Fedoseev
Max Warmerdam 0.5-0.5 Alexey Sarana
Standings
Pentala Harikrishna 1
Gukesh Dommaraju 1
Vincent Keymer 1
Wei Yi 0.5
R Praggnanandhaa 0.5
Nodirbek Abdusattorov 0.5
Fabiano Caruana 0.5
Jorden van Foreest 0.5
Vladimir Fedoseev 0.5
Max Warmerdam 0.5
Alexey Sarana 0.5
Leon Mendonca 0
Anish Giri 0
Arjun Erigaisi 0