Chess News

Abdusattorov keeps the sole lead at Tata Steel Masters 2023

18-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov kept the sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters 2023 after seven played rounds. He defeated Arjun Erigaisi yesterday to be a full point ahead of four runner-ups: Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, Praggnanandhaa and Wesley So.

It was a tense and very sharp game between the two youngsters, but Arjun Erigaisi made a mistake with 26.Qxb7 which happened to be decisive. Abdusattorov took advantage and didn’t let go.

Photo: Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Praggnanandhaa defeated Jorden van Foreest to score 4.5 points and get closer to the top. Pragg had a clear advantage from the early middlegame and slowly improved it throughout the game to eventually score a full point.

Wesley So scored his second consecutive win in the tournament, beating Gukesh D in yesterday’s seventh round. Everything started going wrong for Gukesh after 28.Rd2?! and Wesley forced him to resign after only 6 moves.

Magnus Carlsen is getting back into the winning mood, as he defeated Richard Rapport with White pieces. It was a very engaging game with Carlsen keeping the decisive advantage all way through.

Rankings after 7 played rounds:

1 Abdusattorov, Nodirbek5½/72713
2 Giri, Anish4½/72764
3 Caruana, Fabiano4½/72766
4 Praggnanandhaa4½/72684
5 So, Wesley4½/72760
6 Aronian, Levon4/72735
7 Ding, Liren3½/72811
8 Maghsoodloo, Parham3½/72719
9 Carlsen, Magnus3½/72859
10 Erigaisi Arjun3/72722
11 Rapport, Richard2½/72740
12 Keymer, Vincent2/72696
13 Van Foreest, Jorden2/72681
14 Gukesh D1½/72725

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