Praggnanandhaa R and Nodirbek Abdusattorov share the lead with 4/5 as the Tata Steel Masters 2025 heads into the rest day.  Reigning World Champion Gukesh D and Vladimir Fedoseev notched up crucial victories in Round 5, trailing the leaders by just half a point. Pentala Harikrishna follows in fifth place with 3/5.

Round 5 highlights

The game between Vladimir Fedoseev and Fabiano Caruana featured a topical line of the Ragozin Defence, in which Black comfortably equalized and transitioned into a minor piece endgame. The position remained balanced until Caruana made a critical error after reaching time control.

Instead of the natural 41…Kb6, Fabiano played 41…Bg2?, apparently missing a very strong response 42.e5! After 42…fxe5 43.fxe5 b4 (43…Bxf3?? 44.Nd4+) 44.Nd4 Kc5 45.e6 Kd6 46.axb4 axb4 47.Bxd5! White won a pawn and converted it into a full point twelve moves later. 1-0

The encounter Gukesh D – Vincent Keymer saw very interesting complications in the center right after the opening. As a result, White exerted heavy pressure along the d-file and won a pawn. The German GM could have defended resiliently, but instead he opted to trade most of the pieces liquidating into in a rook + bishop vs. rook + knight endgame. Despite some inaccuracies in conversion, Gukesh eventually forced resignation on move 72.

Facing Jorden Van Foreest with the black pieces, Nodirbek Absusattorov drew fire on himself in Caro-Kann Advance Variation and got an inferior but very complicated position.

After the Dutchman prematurely pushed his b-pawn on move 17, Black’s king found safety on the queenside and the game was on. White pushed hard and temporarily sacrificed a piece, only to land in a worse position as Abdusattorov seized control over the d-file. Attempting to complicate matters, Jorden sacrificed a pawn on the queenside but overlooked a nice tactical shot.

32…Rxf4! 33.Rxf4 Qxe5! 34.Qa2 Qe3+! 35.Rf2 Bg3! Nodirbek precisely calculated that White had just several checks. Twelve moves later, Van Foreest threw in the towel. 0-1

Tata Steel Masters standings after Round 5

In the Challengers event, home player Erwin L’Ami leads the standings with 4/5, followed closely by his compatriot Benjamin Bok and Thai Dai Van Nguyen (Czech Republic), both on 3.5/5.

Tata Steel Challengers standings after Round 5

Photos: Tata Steel Chess, Lennart Ootes

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