The Week in Chess

1. Djerba Chess Festival 2025 - Games and Results

   The Djerba Chess Festival takes place 16th to 23rd February 2025.

2. Chessable Masters 2025 - Games and Results

   The Chessable Masters took place Tue 18th Feb to Fri 21st Feb 2025. Players: Grischuk, Firouzja, Esipenko, Giri, Erigaisi, Caruana, Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi, Duda, Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa, Sevian, Artemiev, Wei Yi, Wesley So and Yu Yangyi. 10 minutes per game. Double Elimination KO.

   Magnus Carlsen made very light work of winning the event beating Hikaru Nakamura in the Winners and Grand Final, there was no need for a final reset final.

3. Monaco FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2025 - Games and Results

   The Monaco FIDE Women's Grand Prix takes place Mon 17th Feb to Fri 28th Feb 2025. Players: Zhongyi Tan, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Humpy Koneru, Kateryna Lagno, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Harika Dronavalli, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Elisabeth Paehtz and Batkhuyag Munguntuul.

4. Freestyle Grand Slam Weissenhaus 2025 - Games and Results

   The Freestyle Grand Slam Weissenhaus was the first in a series of events aimed at promoting the chess variant also known as Chess960, 9LX or Fischer Random Chess. The event is financed by German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner and backed by former World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. The remaining events of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour are: Paris April 8–15, New York July 17–24 New Delhi September 17–24 and Cape Town December 5–12.

   The first event of the series took place in a resort owned by Buettner in Wangels, Germany 7th to 14th February 2025. Players: Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, Gukesh, Abdusattorov, Firouzja, Aronian, Keymer, Fedoseev and Sindarov. A rapid round robin is followed by a classical KO later stage. I don't have the ability to display this chess variant but do have the games available for download.

   The surprise winner was Vincent Keymer who beat Fabiano Caruana in the final. In the semi-final he beat Magnus Carlsen, the game he won was one of the most favorable starting positions for white. Carlsen beat Javokhir 2-0 to finish in 3rd place although Sindarov impressed everyone.

5. Praggnanandhaa wins the Tata Steel Masters after hugely dramatic final round and then a tie-break match - 13

   Praggnanandhaa won the 87th Tata Steel Chess tournament for his most impressive result of his career so far. The path to victory was not at all smooth and he had to show great determination on the final day. Praggnanandhaa shared the lead with World Champion Gukesh and I don't think anyone predicted both players would go down to a defeat.

   Gukesh was well beaten by a resurgent Arjun Erigaisi who said his confidence returned after beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Round 12. The game was a Petroff with opposite sides castling, Erigaisi always seemed at least equal, there was a weird exchange sacrifice which was supposed to be a bit better for Gukesh but after that it was all one way traffic and Erigaisi won in only 31 moves.

   Abdusattorov could himself have got into a tie for first with a win today but was held by Pentala Harikrishna. Praggnanandhaa by this stage had troubles of his own as he was being tortured by Vincent Keymer. In the end Praggnanandhaa was given a chance to draw but he instead blundered a piece a few moves later and lost. The whole position was fiendishly difficult for both players and they had very little time too, mistakes were inevitable. This meant there was a tie for first between Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh and a blitz match for the title. Praggnanandhaa lost the first game but won the next two to secure the title. Very impressive considering the small recovery time between losing the classical game and the tie-breaks.

   The only other winner in the Masters was Max Warmerdam who beat Fabiano Caruana who definitely had a tournament to forget. Fedoseev-Wei Yi, Giri-Van Foreest and Sarana-Mendonca were all drawn.

   Panesar Vedant won the Tienkamp and qualifies for the Challengers next year and Thai Dai Van Nguyen beat Benjamin Bok in a must win game where he risked all in complications just before first time control and it paid off for him. This means Nguyen plays the Masters next year but spare a thought for Aydin Suleymanli who also scored 9.5/13 after beating Irina Bulmaga and only lost out on tie-break coefficients.

   My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos, notes to the games and indeed help throughout the tournament.

   Tata Steel Masters Final Round 13 Standings: 1st Gukesh, D 8.5pts, 2nd Praggnanandhaa, R 8.5pts, 3rd Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 8pts, 4th Fedoseev, Vladimir 7.5pts, 5th Giri, Anish 7pts, 6th Wei, Yi 7pts, 7th Harikrishna, Pentala 6.5pts, 8th Caruana, Fabiano 6pts, 9th Keymer, Vincent 6pts, 10th Erigaisi, Arjun 5.5pts, 11th Van Foreest, Jorden 5.5pts, 12th Sarana, Alexey 5.5pts, 13th Mendonca, Leon Luke 5pts, 14th Warmerdam, Max 4.5pts.

   Tata Steel Challengers Final Round 13 Standings: 1st Nguyen, Thai Dai Van 9.5pts, 2nd Suleymanli, Aydin 9.5pts, 3rd L'Ami, Erwin 8.5pts, 4th Yakubboev, Nodirbek 8pts, 5th Bok, Benjamin 8pts, 6th Gurel, Ediz 7.5pts, 7th Svane, Frederik 7.5pts, 8th Nogerbek, Kazybek 7.5pts, 9th Vaishali, Rameshbabu 6pts, 10th Lu, Miaoyi 5.5pts, 11th Pijpers, Arthur 5.5pts, 12th Oro, Faustino 3.5pts, 13th Divya, Deshmukh 3.5pts, 14th Bulmaga, Irina 1pt.

   Tata Steel Tienkamp Final Round 9 Standings: 1st Panesar Vedant 6pts, 2nd Slagboom, Leandro 5.5pts, 2nd Grutter, Tim 5.5pts, 4th Smeets, Kobe 5pts, 4th Tudor, Henry Edward 5pts, 6th Sofronie, Iulian 4pts, 6th Lohia, Sohum 4pts, 8th Beukema, Stefan 3.5pts, 8th Holzke, Frank 3.5pts, 10th Zwirs, Nico 3pts.

6. Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh share the lead going into the final round of the Tata Steel Masters - 12

   The twelfth round of the Tata Steel Masters saw the top three all involved in dramatic games. At the end of the day Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh share the lead on 8.5/12 and Nodirbek Abdusattorov is now on 7.5 points after losing. If they are tied tomorrow there will be a blitz tie-break match after the round.

   First of all Praggnanandhaa won a short game against Alexey Sarana whose solid undefeated start is a distant memory after his third loss in a row. Praggnanandhaa found a clever idea in the Queen's Gambit that led to opposite sides castling and a nasty position for Sarana. Praggnanandhaa broke through with a knight sacrifice and Sarana allowed him to finish with a Queen sacrifice. Gukesh no doubt felt obliged to try and win against Jorden Van Foreest and he was comfortable at one stage. Then the game entered a time scramble where Gukesh thought he might be losing (he wasn't) but just after time control he played 42...Rb1?! (42...Rxh3 was a complicated win) missing that white had 45.Ke4. Calculating such a position is very complicated and shortly after Van Foreest was winning according to the engines but he missed something and after 47.Rxe3 the game finished in a draw. Abdusattorov had a miserable time against Arjun Erigaisi, he was slightly worse out of the opening and then lost after 24...Qg5? Erigaisi overcomplicated things and let much of the advantage go with 32.Rxc6? (32.Rg6!) but it was still complicated and after 36...Rf8? 37.Qg2 Erigaisi was winning again and there were no more mistakes.

   Vladimir Fedoseev took advantage of a one move blunder (30.Qb3?? Rf6!) to beat Max Warmerdam, Leon Luke Mendonca missed a chance 36.Rxd7! to go into a very favourable knight ending against Fabiano Caruana before drawing, Pentala Harikrishna and Vincent Keymer drew in a Catalan and Wei Yi and Anish Giri blitzed to a draw in a Petroff that was the first game to finish.

   In the Challengers Erwin L'Ami survived a lost position against Kazybek Nogerbek and his draw allowed him to share the lead with Thai Dai Van Nguyen who beat the suffering Irina Bulmaga today, and finally Aydin Suleymanli (who plays Bulmaga tomorrow) beat Frederik Svane to catch both of them too. All these leaders are on 8.5/12.

   My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos.

   Masters Round 12 Standings: 1st= Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh 8.5pts, 3rd Abdusattorov 7.5pts, 4th Fedoseev 7pts, 5th= Giri, Wei Yi 6.5pts, 7th= Caruana, Harikrishna 6pts, 9th= Sarana, Van Foreest, Keymer 5pts, 12th= Erigaisi, Mendonca 4.5pts, 14th Warmerdam 3.5pts,

   Round 13 on Feb 2nd at 11.00 GMT Gukesh vs Erigaisi, Giri vs Van Foreest, Fedoseev vs Wei Yi Caruana vs Warmerdam, Sarana vs Mendonca, Keymer vs Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov vs Harikrishna,

   Challengers Round 12 Standings: 1st= Suleymanli, L'Ami, Nguyen 8.5pts, 4th Bok 8pts, 5th= Yakubboev, Svane, Gurel 7pts, 8th Nogerbek 6.5pts, 9th Lu 5.5pts, 10th= Pijpers, Vaishali 5pts, 12th Oro 3.5pts, 13th Divya 3pts, 14th Bulmaga 1pt,

   Round 13 Feb 02 at 12.00 Lu vs Yakubboev, Nogerbek vs Oro, Vaishali vs L'Ami, Svane vs Gurel, Bulmaga vs Suleymanli, Bok vs Nguyen, Pijpers vs Divya,

   Tienkamp Round 8 of 9 Standings: 1st= Panesar, Slagboom 5.5pts, 3rd Grutter 5pts, 4th Tudor 4.5pts, 5th Smeets 4pts, 6th= Beukema, Sofronie 3.5pts, 8th= Lohia, Holzke 3pts, 10th Zwirs 2.5pts.

7. Gukesh leads the Tata Steel Masters on 8/11 half a point clear of Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov - 11

   The Tata Steel Masters heads into the final two rounds with three players in contention for first place. Gukesh's draw took him to 8/11 and a win for Praggnanandhaa put him right back in it on 7.5 points. Nodirbek Abdusattorov let a win escape against Vincent Keymer but stays very much in contention on 7.5 points as well. The leaders now all face players in the bottom half of the field, one of those players is however Arjun Erigaisi who faces two of them and may try to salvage something from an otherwise terrible event by winning these key games.

   World Champion Gukesh was held to a draw by Wei Yi. The Chinese player felt he was under pressure for much of the game although the engines didn't have such worries. Praggnanandhaa emerged victorious in a wild struggle against Fabiano Caruana where both players were happy to head for unclear complications. Caruana had the chance to head for an endgame with 28.Qf2 when most likely he would not have lost and maybe he would have won, in the end he was down to a minute and under attack when he blundered with 32.Qe3? the engine thinks 32.Qe2 is equal but the game would still have been wide open at least. Vincent Keymer was doing fine against Abdusattorov until his terrible idea of 28.h4? followed by 29.dxe5 left him dead lost. Abdusattorov only needed to find 38...Qh5 to win the game, instead he blundered into a drawn endgame with 38...Qe7? Pentala Harikrishna beat Alexey Sarana in a fine game where he found a sneaky tactic to win material.

   Anish Giri beat Max Warmerdam in a Giuoco Pianissimo where black was doing fine until he played 25...Bg6? and 27...Ra6?, and then he wasn't. Leon Luke Mendonca was probably the happiest player today when his game tournament was crowned with a win against Vladimir Fedoseev who blundered with 27.Be2? and found there was no fixing it. Erigaisi against Jorden Van Foreest was a Saemisch Nimzo-Indian which might be theoretically interesting but just drifted to a draw after the opening.

   In the Challengers it was all change at the top when Frederik Svane beat the leader Thai Dai Van Nguyen allowing Erwin L'Ami to retake the lead alone when he beat Miaoyi Lu and Aydin Suleymanli is also now tied for second after beating Vaishali. This event definitely isn't settled.

   My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos and notes to the games.

   Masters Round 11 Standings: 1st Gukesh 8pts, 2nd= Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov 7.5pts, 4th= Fedoseev, Giri, Wei Yi 6pts, 7th= Caruana, Harikrishna 5.5pts, 9th Sarana 5pts, 10th= Van Foreest 4.5pts, 12th Mendonca 4pts, 13th= Warmerdam, Erigaisi 3.5pts,

   Masters Round 12 pairings on Feb 1st at 13.00 GMT Erigaisi vs Abdusattorov, Harikrishna vs Keymer, Praggnanandhaa vs Sarana, Mendonca vs Caruana, Warmerdam vs Fedoseev, Wei vs Giri, Van Foreest vs Gukesh,

   Challengers Round 11 Standings: 1st L'Ami 8pts, 2nd= Nguyen, Suleymanli 7.5pts, 4th= Bok, Svane 7pts, 6th= Gurel, Nogerbek, Yakubboev 6pts, 9th Lu 5.5pts, 10th= Pijpers, Vaishali 5pts, 12th Divya, Deshmukh 3pts, 13th Oro, Faustino 2.5pts, 14th Bulmaga, Irina 1pt

   Challengers Round 12 pairings: Feb 01 at 13.00 GMT Yakubboev vs Pijpers, Divya vs Bok, Nguyen vs Bulmaga, Suleymanli vs Svane, Gurel vs Vaishali, L'Ami vs Nogerbek, Oro vs Lu,

   Tienkamp Round 7 of 9 Standings: 1st= Slagboom, Grutter 5pts, 3rd Panesar Vedant 4.5pts, 4th Smeets 4pts, 5th Tudor 3.5pts, 6th Beukema 3pts, 7th= Holzke, Lohia, Zwirs, Sofronie 2.5pts.

8. Gukesh wins again in Round 10 of the Tata Steel Masters but so do Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa - 10

   Gukesh leads the Tata Steel Masters with 7.5/10 by half a point from Nodirbek Abdusattorov on 7 points, a further half point behind is Praggnanandhaa. It seems very likely the winner will be one of these three players and all of them won today. There is a rest day on Thursday followed by the final three rounds with the event finishing on Sunday.

   Gukesh started the game as black with 1.e4 d6! the first time he'd ever played this, Max Warmerdam played 2.g3! a pre-event piece of prep and after 2...c5 they were in a Sicilian. Gukesh had the kind of complicated position he needed and after 24.Bf1? he was much better and after 28.Rc1? he launched a direct attack for the win. Abdusattorov probably was only half kidding when he described this as his worst game of the event, the sharp Sicilian quickly turned very tricky for him, especially after 14.0-0?! rather than going Queenside, he was so unhappy that he spent almost 30 minutes on move 23, eventually as time trouble approached he gambled with 27.f5, mostly because Sarana only had 15 minutes left. There were mutual mistakes before 39...Kf8? immediately cost Sarana the game. A bit lucky? Maybe but Abdusattorov knew only a win was really good enough. Praggnanandhaa was the other winner, he was the beneficiary of the dubious move 8...gxf6 which Vladimir Fedoseev made when he became confused about his opening. This led to a long term advantage but Fedoseev found some active play and the game became very complicated. Praggnanandhaa felt he had restored his advantage with 32.Bf3 and after Queen's came off he played a forcing winning variation.

   The other games were drawn, Fabiano Caruana was winning against Pentala Harikrishna but it was one of those endgames where it was really hard to find the best moves, many of them looked the same value, and he was a bit unlucky in the end not to convert after finding many really good moves. Wei Yi seemed to quickly lose faith in his position against Jorden Van Foreest and repeated for a draw, Leon Luke Mendonca played very solidly for a draw against Anish Giri and Arjun Erigaisi and Vincent Keymer drew a Ruy Lopez which seemed pretty well played.

   My thanks to Michiel Abeln for the photos and notes to the games. A shout out to Fiona Steil-Antoni for her post-game interviews on the official Tata Steel Chess YouTube channel. They've been excellent and to the point.

   In the Challengers Group Thai Dai Van Nguyen leads by half a point from Erwin L'Ami, they were both winners today.

   Masters Round 10 Standings: 1st Gukesh 7.5pts, 2nd Abdusattorov 7pts, 3rd Praggnanandhaa 6.5pts, 4th Fedoseev 6pts, 5th= Caruana, Wei Yi 5.5pts, 7th= Giri, Sarana 5pts, 9th= Harikrishna 4.5pts, 10th= Van Foreest, Keymer 4pts, 12th Warmerdam 3.5pts, 13th= Erigaisi, Mendonca 3pts,

   Rest Day Thursday 30th January. All groups.

   Round 11 Jan 31 at 13.00 GMT Van Foreest vs Erigaisi, Gukesh vs Wei Yi Giri vs Warmerdam, Fedoseev vs Mendonca, Caruana vs Praggnanandhaa, Sarana vs Harikrishna, Keymer vs Abdusattorov.

   Challengers Round 10 Standings: 1st Thai Dai Van Nguyen 7.5pts, 2nd L'Ami, Erwin 7pts, 3rd= Suleymanli, Bok 6.5pts, 5th Svane 6pts, 6th= Lu, Gurel, Nogerbek 5.5pts, 9th= Vaishali, Yakubboev 5pts, 11th Pijpers 4.5pts, 12th Oro 2.5pts, 13th Divya 2pts, 14th Bulmaga 1pt

   Round 11 Jan 31 at 13.00 GMT Oro vs Yakubboev, Lu vs L'Ami, Nogerbek vs Gurel, Vaishali vs Suleymanli, Svane vs Nguyen, Bulmaga vs Divya, Bok vs Pijpers,

   Tienkamp Round 6 Standings: 1st= Slagboom, Panesar Grutter 4pts, 4th= Beukema, Tudor, Kobe Smeets 3pts, 7th= Zwirs, Sofronie 2.5pts, 9th= Lohia, Holzke 2pts.