Chess · International
Gukesh beats Giri as three players share Tata Steel’s opening lead
The world champion joined Harikrishna and Keymer on one point after the first Masters round in Wijk aan Zee.
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A tactical escape for the champion
Gukesh began his first tournament since becoming world champion with a victory over Anish Giri on 18 January. Their opening Masters game in Wijk aan Zee swung sharply: Gukesh sacrificed a bishop, but Giri’s counterplay produced a winning opportunity. FIDE identified 35…Ng4 as the missed continuation. Giri instead played 35…Qb6, allowing 36.Qf6+ and a decisive change in the position. After the queens disappeared, Gukesh’s active rook gave him a winning ending. Giri resigned three moves after 39.Re8+. The result supplied a full point for the champion, although the route to it included a serious defensive test.
Three wins and four draws
The tournament’s official first-round record shows three decisive games from the seven Masters pairings. Pentala Harikrishna defeated Arjun Erigaisi, while Vincent Keymer won with Black against Leon Luke Mendonca. Together with Gukesh, those winners formed the first group on one point. Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov drew, as did Max Warmerdam and Alexey Sarana. Defending champion Wei Yi shared the point with Fabiano Caruana, and Jorden van Foreest drew against Vladimir Fedoseev. The table therefore began with a three-way lead and eight players on half a point. These were opening standings, with the rest of the round-robin still ahead of the field.
An established event with a young field
The organizer’s November field announcement set the 87th tournament for 17 January to 2 February, encompassing the opening programme and the subsequent playing schedule. It highlighted five players who occupied top-ten places on the November rating list, alongside returning former winners Caruana, Giri and Van Foreest. Gukesh had already come close to this title in 2024, losing the deciding tiebreak to Wei Yi. The selection also included younger players in both tournament groups. Junior world champions Kazybek Nogerbek and Divya Deshmukh were named for the Challengers, as were Faustino Oro, Lu Miaoyi and Ediz Gürel. The announcement presented established contenders and emerging talent as complementary parts of the event, across its two principal tournament groups.
Circuit rules add another competitive measure
The opening results also arrived soon after FIDE approved changes to its 2025 Circuit regulations. Its 7 January announcement adjusted how many players can earn points in round-robin events: the top three in fields smaller than ten, the top four in fields of ten to twelve, and the top five in larger fields. The changes also addressed strong double round-robins and reduced the weighting of tournaments that schedule two rounds per day. FIDE said the revisions followed experience from the previous Circuit. For a fourteen-player Masters field, the published size rule places the event in the top-five category. That is a rules-based implication, separate from the first day’s tournament points.
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