Tata Steel, Round 10

Gukesh wins again, but so do his closest pursuers.

The way Gukesh Dommaraju keeps winning, you’d think he was the World Champion or something. Oh wait…

Gukesh won for the second straight round, for the third time in his last four games and fourth time in the last six games and now has 7.5 points after 10 rounds. Today’s win over Max Warmerdam didn’t follow a recommended pattern: a risky opening with Black that didn’t get much less risky in the early middlegame, but it served its purpose. Warmerdam seemed unsure of what to do, and when he chose the wrong way to pursue a strategic idea he could have implemented much more safely several moves earlier, his position started to show some signs of weakness. Still, it wasn’t that bad until he played 28.Rc1, which was either casual (completely oblivious to danger) or panicky (maybe he was worried about the idea of …e5 and …Qxh3+ and missed the real threat). Whatever the case, the move more or less lost on the spot, and Warmerdam gave up a few moves later, down two pawns with a crumbling kingside.

As good as Gukesh has been, he has not shaken off the field. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who has already been one of his main rivals for a few years and probably will be for at least another decade and a half, is just half a point behind. His recipe for defeating Alexey Sarana was similar to Gukesh’s against Warmerdam: great risk in the opening and the middlegame, hoping to create a position that’s confusing enough to outwit his lower-rated opponent. It could and probably should have backfired, but it finally bore fruit when Sarana blundered on move 39 (time trouble?). Sarana’s king was caught in the center, and his attempts to sac his way to a perpetual came up short. It wasn’t a well-played game at all, but it was a typical win for the young Uzbek superstar, who is one of the biggest fighters in the chess world.

Another half a point back there’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who defeated Vladimir Fedoseev. Fedoseev entered the round half a point behind Gukesh, tied with Abdusattorov, but a disastrous opening (8…gxf6?, really?) soon had him behind the 8-ball. There were some inaccuracies between that point and Pragg’s victory, but Fedoseev’s opportunities were tiny islands of hope in a sea of despair, and the final result had an air of inevitability to it.

The remaining games were drawn, especially Wei Yi vs. Jorden Van Foreest. Only the game between Pentala Harikrishna and Fabiano Caruana had any drama, and it should have been won by Caruana. His second winning opportunity, on move 49, wasn’t easy, but 46…Rf3 doesn’t seem to have been particularly difficult. (My suspicion is that he saw it and understood that it won, but thought 46…Rg3 would be even easier.) A win would have kept him in the hunt for the podium; now, it seems unlikely unless he wins in the next round against Praggnanandhaa.

The games, with my notes, are here. Thursday is a rest day, and on Friday round 11 (of 13) will see these pairings:

Van Foreest (4) - Erigaisi (3)

Gukesh (7.5) - Wei Yi (5.5)

Giri (5) - Warmerdam (3.5)

Fedoseev (6) - Mendonca (3)

Caruana (5.5) - Praggnanandhaa (6.5)

Sarana (5) - Harikrishna (4.5)

Keymer (4) - Abdusattorov (7)