Gukesh Beats Giri In Thriller As Tata Steel Chess Starts With A Bang
GM Gukesh Dommaraju has won his first game as world champion despite staring defeat in the face against GM Anish Giri in round one of the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters. Giri blundered last, while Gukesh's world championship helpers GMs Vincent Keymer and Pentala Harikrishna also won. Keymer escaped a lost position and then exploited a blunder by GM Leon Luke Mendonca, while Harikrishna played a perfect game to grind down GM Arjun Erigaisi in a position with two rooks for a queen.
There were just two draws in the Tata Steel Chess Challengers, with 14-year-old IM Lu Miaoyi joining GMs Nodirbek Yakubboev, Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Ediz Gurel, and Vaishali Rameshbabu in getting off to a winning start.
Round two starts on Sunday, January 19 at 8:00 a.m. ET/ 14:00 CET / 6:30 p.m. IST.
Masters: Team Gukesh Gets Off To Winning Start
Tata Steel Masters: Round 1 Results
Tata Steel Masters: Standings After Round 1
Top seed GM Fabiano Caruana played the Berlin Defense against defending champion Wei Yi and made a quiet 31-move draw, while the balance was never seriously upset in the clash between GMs Max Warmerdam and Alexey Sarana.
The same couldn't be said of GM Jorden van Foreest vs. GM Vladimir Fedoseev, where both players were winning, at points, though never in an obvious way. That clash ended in a 46-move draw, but everywhere else there was mayhem, decisive action, or both!
This was the first classical super-tournament since the world championship match in Singapore, and it was fitting that in round one we saw wins for three members of the winning team: Harikrishna, Keymer, and of course Gukesh himself.
Gukesh 1-0 Giri
As we noted in our Tata Steel Chess preview, Gukesh received India's highest sporting honor, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, on Friday, and he later told WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, "For any Indian athlete, it’s a dream come true!" The only problem was that the chess in Wijk aan Zee was starting Saturday, which meant a long-haul overnight flight. He commented: "I just landed in Amsterdam at 9 a.m. and played around 2 p.m., so it was a new experience, but it went well!"
I just landed in Amsterdam at 9 a.m. and played around 2 p.m., so it was a new experience, but it went well!
—Gukesh Dommaraju
Gukesh said he slept very well on the flight, however, and he was relishing his return to the board:
It was really good to get back to chess. The last few weeks I had a lot of things to do back home, so it was really good to come here and just focus on chess.
That helps explain why instead of steering his game against Giri toward a draw, that everyone would have understood, he chose to gamble despite getting caught in his opponent's opening preparation. 14.Bh4!? invited 14...g5, trapping the bishop.
"I kind of felt it was too artificial to be true, but also too interesting not to try!" said Gukesh, who also said he was "mostly having fun!" in the chaos that followed.
After a long think Giri correctly accepted the challenge and found many of the best moves to prove his advantage. It brought to mind a clip from the Lie Detector Chess episode with GM Vidit Gujrathi and Giri that was played during the live broadcast.
Giri on becoming World Champion: "I think actually I might... I think I'm a good player, honestly. I'm not too impressed with the people at the top right now. Gukesh will likely become world champion — I don't see him as someone much better than me, so I'm OK!" #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/DZ1nq8dzox
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2025
Giri came incredibly close to winning the game, with 33.h3? by Gukesh, played with seven seconds to spare, a potentially losing blunder.
Now 33...Be4! is winning for Giri! #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/ryXJSbHMOq
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2025
Giri played 33...Be4!! with three seconds left, but after 34.Rxf2 Nxf2+ 35.Kg1, he missed the key 35...Ng4!!. "I saw it after we reached this position, but luckily he didn’t," said Gukesh. After 35...Qb6? was played, he was able to swap off queens when both players knew White was going to win. The usually poker-faced Giri fell back in his chair as he realized it was over.
Despair for Giri as he knows he's about to lose a game he was winning vs. Gukesh! #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/nnMdo4I69I
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2025
There was no way back as Gukesh went on to win his first game as world champion. That wild clash is our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.
Moments after scoring his first win as the reigning World Champion, @DGukesh is greeted by dozens of fans at #TataSteelChess! pic.twitter.com/74hohz2Rx3
— Peter Doggers (@peterdoggers) January 18, 2025
So, any interesting games today?🤨
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) January 18, 2025
GM Hikaru Nakamura has also recapped the game:
The day would go perfectly for Gukesh, as his seconds also won.
Mendonca 0-1 Keymer
18-year-old Mendonca earned the right to play the Masters after winning the 2024 Challengers, and the bottom seed at first seemed on course to get off to a fantastic start against his 20-year-old opponent. After a couple of mistakes by Keymer in a row, the Indian star had not just an extra pawn but a powerful passed pawn.
"Chess is a slippery slope" says Howell, as Keymer's second mistake in a row leaves him in a lost position vs. last year's Challengers winner Mendonca! https://t.co/DwBT7UN7m0#TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/Xv2i57jGDW
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2025
Keymer complicated matters, however, and Mendonca was low on time when he made perhaps the day's most inexplicable blunder, shuffling his rook from a1 to c1, while ignoring the clear-and-present danger on the kingside. 31...Qxh3! and it was time to resign, with mate-in-six on the board.
31.Qxh5+! or 31.Qe3 would have held the balance, with all three results in play.
Harikrishna 1-0 Arjun
While Gukesh and Keymer both found themselves lost before they triumphed, Harikrishna played the day's cleanest, and longest, win. The 38-year-old (Caruana noted he'd have been the oldest participant if Harikrishna hadn't replaced Vidit) used all his experience against the hugely ambitious Arjun, who rejected a queen trade only to stumble into a clever way to give up the white queen for two rooks with 18.Qxd8! and 19.Bxg7.
Harikrishna explained that his position was easy to play, adding, "I wasn’t entirely sure how much it’s good for me, but I can keep on playing for a win."
It was a nightmare for Arjun to defend, and finally he couldn't, with Harikrishna spotting a nice move with his knight while also admitting he'd missed the clinching move in advance!
Some doubted Harikrishna as a late replacement for Vidit, but he starts #TataSteelChess by beating World no. 4 Arjun Erigaisi! https://t.co/oKknKnnxBA pic.twitter.com/KKJBBjuc1U
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2025
"When you have long games, it’s good to be on the winning side!" said Harikrishna, who explained he's very used to being on the wrong side in Wijk aan Zee.
So there were three decisive games in the Masters, but it felt certain there would be four when GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov looked to be winning a race to attack on opposite sides against GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.
Praggnanandhaa ½-½ Abdusattorov
Abdusattorov was close not just to winning, but winning in brilliant style, when he left his queen under attack for four moves in a row, with Praggnanandhaa finally taking on a6 only after 26...Bxf5!.
The game went on, however, and despite getting down to his last seconds, Praggnanandhaa managed to escape after finding a couple of absolutely clutch moves.
So there were just three decisive games in the Masters, but there were five in the Challengers.
Challengers: Battle Of The Prodigies
Tata Steel Challengers: Round 1 Results
Round one of the Challengers saw convincing wins for top seeds Nguyen and Yakubboev, and for 14-year-old Lu, who pounced on a mistake by World Junior Champion GM Kazybek Nogerbek and converted flawlessly.
15-year-old Gurel didn't have things quite so easy. He was engaged in a tense battle with IM Irina Bulmaga until her 32...Qf5?, trying to exploit the undefended queen on c2, suddenly lost on the spot.
The most exciting battle involving a prodigy, however, saw 11-year-old IM Faustino Oro get chances in a crazy game against Vaishali.
true. https://t.co/O2znb1r9YG pic.twitter.com/1Xy172j5kv
— Chess.com (@chesscom) January 18, 2025
Vaishali gave up a piece for three pawns but struggled to remember her preparation. Although she built up a winning position, she was 30 minutes down on the clock.
Vaishali made her last move with 19 seconds to spare, but she's winning vs. Oro! https://t.co/daSRiAKLsb#TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/I0kBZy5OYx
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 18, 2025
"Getting into time trouble is not a strategy!" Vaishali clarified in the post-game interview, and that showed in moves that allowed Oro to equalize and even potentially take over.
The computer saw mistakes everywhere, while it was on only move 37 that Oro's last chance slipped away.
A tough start for the kid, but there are 12 more rounds to go!
The 87th edition of Tata Steel Chess takes place January 18-February 2, 2025, in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. The time control is 100 minutes for 40 moves followed by 50 minutes to finish each game, with a 30-second increment from move one. Both the Masters and Challengers groups are 14-player round-robin tournaments.
Previous coverage:
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
