Tata Steel Chess: Keymer, Erigaisi and Niemann score in eventful first round

Quick blunders following delayed start

Round one of the 88^th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee began in unusual circumstances, as play was delayed by approximately 1½ hours. The postponement was caused by protesters from Extinction Rebellion, who attempted to block the entrance to the playing hall while demonstrating against Tata Steel’s environmental impact. The group claimed that the company had failed to meet a climate-neutral target set for 2025.

Following the disruption, the round eventually got under way 90 minutes later than scheduled.

Round 1 results

Once the games started, the opening day proved eventful, with three players committing early blunders and losing their games – an uncharacteristic occurrence at this level, and one that may have been influenced by the unusual prelude to the round.

The first decisive result came quickly, as Hans Niemann needed only 16 moves to defeat Vladimir Fedoseev. Fedoseev sacrificed a knight two moves too late and immediately found himself in a clearly inferior position, with no realistic compensation, allowing Niemann to convert without difficulty.

It turned out to be a short day at the office for Hans Niemann | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

Shortly afterwards, top seed Vincent Keymer also collected a full point. His opponent, Anish Giri, allowed a rook fork as early as move 22, a tactical oversight that effectively decided the game on the spot.

Two Super Grandmasters from India explain the ins & outs of Attack, Tactics an Calculations in these two video courses.

Vincent Keymer | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

The third win of the day was scored by Arjun Erigaisi, who made the most of a clear strategic advantage against defending champion Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Pragg declined to castle at a moment when it was still possible to do so safely, soon found himself under sustained pressure, and Erigaisi converted his positional edge with accuracy.

All three decisive games in the Masters were won by the contender playing white.

The remaining four encounters ended in draws. Two of them stayed balanced throughout and were comparatively uneventful. The game between Jorden van Foreest and Thai Dai Van Nguyen concluded after 27 moves. Van Foreest advanced his kingside pawns early, creating an imbalanced structure and some tension, but the game ended suddenly in a perpetual check after Nguyen failed to choose the most testing continuation on move 21.

Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

By far the most dramatic draw – and arguably the most interesting game of the day – was the clash between Javokhir Sindarov and world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Emerging from a Ragozin Variation of the QGD, Gukesh obtained a slightly better position in the early middlegame. Sindarov’s situation worsened after incorrect decisions on moves 38 and 39, made while both players were in time trouble – there are no increments before move 40.

Following these mistakes, the position was simplified into a rare material configuration: two rooks, a knight and two pawns against a queen and five pawns. While the world champion continued to make progress, Sindarov repeatedly threatened to escape via perpetual check.

The struggle reached its climax on move 70, when Gukesh played an inaccurate knight jump, allowing Sindarov to force the perpetual he had been seeking.

The King‘s Indian Attack is a universal opening: easy to learn, flexible, and rich in both tactical and positional opportunities.

It was a narrow escape for the Uzbek grandmaster and a painful half-point loss for the reigning world champion.

Gukesh Dommaraju | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

Standings after round 1

All games

Four winners in the Challengers

Four games ended decisively in the opening round of the Challengers tournament, with all three Dutch representatives suffering defeats in what amounted to a difficult start for the local players in “Group B”. Unlike in the Masters, where all decisive games were shaped by early blunders, three of the four wins in the Challengers came only after the 40-move time control had been reached.

The only exception was Vedant Panesar, the Indian FM who qualified by winning last year’s Qualifiers tournament. Panesar scored before move 40, defeating Eline Roebers with the black pieces. The remaining three victories of the day were achieved by Aydin Suleymanli, who beat Erwin l’Ami with Black; Bibisara Assaubayeva, who got the better of Andy Woodward with the white pieces; and Lu Miaoyi, who defeated Max Warmerdam with white.

Round 1 results

This video course includes GM Anish Giri’s deep insights and IM Sagar Shah’s pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

Eline Roebers lost her round-one game against Vedant Panesar | Photo: Tata Steel Chess /Jurriaan Hoefsmit

A tactical sequence decided the Aasaubayeva v. Woodward game, as time trouble approached dangerously (Assaubayeva had 12 minutes to her opponent’s 1 with six moves to go).

Here Woodward is clearly for choice, but the only move that keeps his advantage is 35…Bg3, when after 36.Qg2 Re3 (another only move), Black is threatening to place the queen on f4, and White will have trouble defending the f3-pawn while maintaining coordination.

Instead, Woodward went for 35…Qh5?, giving White a key tempo to play 36.Be4, turning the tables, as she is now better with her three extra pawns. With 1 minute and 22 seconds on his clock, Woodward erred again, playing 36…Bxd5??

The US grandmaster surely saw that after 37.Nxd5, he has 37…Rxe4 38.fxe4 Qxd1+, but after Assaubayeva’s 37.Bxd5 there is no tactical trick for Black – four moves later, Woodward resigned the game.

Bibisara Assaubayeva | Photo: Tata Steel Chess

One of the most anticipated matchups of the round featured Vasyl Ivanchuk against Carissa Yip. The game ended in a 35-move draw out of a Nimzo-Indian Defence. Ivanchuk played in rather adventurous fashion during the opening, castling queenside with his pawn structure on that flank already developed. The Ukrainian legend spent a lot of time in the early stages of the game soon found himself roughly half an hour down on the clock.

In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

A tension-packed middlegame battle followed, eventually concluding in a perpetual check.

Fan favourite Vasyl Ivanchuk | Photo: Tata Steel Chess

Standings after round 1

All games

Tournament schedule

Games start daily at 14:00 CET (7:00 ET, 20:30 IST), except for round 13, which starts two hours earlier than usual.

Two Super Grandmasters from India explain the ins & outs of Attack, Tactics an Calculations in these two video courses.

Links