Five games ended decisively, all favouring the player who had the white pieces, in round 9 of the Tata Steel Masters. Praggnanandhaa R. and Nodirbek Abdusattorov scored victories and joined the 4-player leading pack, which also includes Gukesh D. and Anish Giri. Former co-leader Alireza Firouzja, on his part, was defeated by Alexander Donchenko. Firouzja is now one of three players standing a half point behind the leaders. In the Challengers, Marc’Andria Maurizzi remains atop the standings after beating Divya Deshmukh. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit
By beating none other than world champion Ding Liren, Alireza Firouzja joined the leading pack at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. The remaining decisive result of the round saw Ian Nepomniachtchi defeating former co-leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, Marc’Andria Maurizzi beat Saleh Salem and leapfrogged him in the standings. Maurizzi is now the sole leader of the event with 5½/8 points. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit
The standings in both the Masters and Challengers were shaken up in round 7 of the Tata Steel Chess Festival. In the Masters, Nodirbek Abdusattorov defeated former sole leader Anish Giri and is now tied for first place both with Giri and with Gukesh D., who scored a third consecutive victory on Saturday. In the Challengers, Saleh Salem took the lead after beating Eline Roebers and seeing former leader Erwin l’Ami losing to Jaime Santos. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit
Ju Wenjun, in the Masters, and Eline Roebers, in the Challengers, obtained remarkable wins over much higher-rated opponents in round 5 of the Tata Steel Chess Festival. Ju defeated an overly ambitious Alireza Firouzja, while Roebers patiently made the most of a positional advantage in her game against top seed Hans Niemann. Firouzja’s loss allowed Anish Giri to go into round 6 with a full-point lead, while Erwin l’Ami is the sole leader in the Challengers. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit
Defending champion Anish Giri joined Alireza Firouzja in the lead of the Tata Steel Masters after beating Alexander Donchenko with the black pieces. Full points were also scored by Ding Liren, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Jorden van Foreest all three grabbed their first wins of the event. In the Challengers, six players are sharing first place with 2/3 points following a round that saw five out of seven games ending decisively. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit