Praggnanandhaa goes down again, Gukesh held by Foreest

Wijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands), Jan 19 (PTI) Defending champion R Praggnanandhaa lost his second game in as many days, going down to Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, even as D Gukesh was held to a draw by Netherlands' Jorden van Foreest in the Tata Steel Masters Chess here.

Having been at the top of his game for a major part of 2025, Praggnanandhaa seems to be running low on steam as a drawn endgame turned into a painful loss against the Uzbek on Sunday.

With no points to show after the first two games, Praggnanandhaa is at the bottom of the table and will have to make a strong comeback in the remaining 11 rounds in order to pose a challenge.

Meanwhile world champion Gukesh was held to a draw by van Foreest in another hard-fought game. Gukesh took his tally to one point following his second draw.

After defeating Praggnanandhaa in the opener, Arjun Erigaisi tried to make a foray against Thai Dai Van Nguyen of Czech Republic but eventually did not succeed in breaking the fortress. The top seeded Indian however remained in joint lead on 1.5 points in the company of Hans Moke Niemann of the United States and Abdusattorov.

The fourth Indian in the fray Aravindh Chithambaram played out a draw with Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus of Turkey to also take his tally to one point out of a possible two.

With three players in front, as many as nine are in closed pursuit a half point behind with local star Anish Giri on 13th spot on a half point just ahead of Praggnanandhaa.

It was a Queen's Gmabit declined by Praggnanandhaa and it did not seem he had any trouble equalising with the black pieces. Nodirbek waited for the position to open up and went a pawn ahead in the rook and pawns endgame after the Indian erred on his 31st move.

However, there were still huge technicalities and the experts believed that the endgame should have been a draw. Praggnanandhaa could not really find the way to equalise and had to surrender on his 60th turn.

Arjun also employed the Queen's gambit and suffered a little in the early stages of the middle game. The Indian even went for a repetition of moves that was rejected by Nguyen but eventually it was another rook and pawns endgame on the board leading to a draw.

Gukesh pushed hard with his white pieces against Foreest who was equally competent to keep his counter play rolling. After an irregular opening set of moves, it was a complicated middle game and Gukesh sacrificed a Bishop to force perpetual checks.

Aravindh Chithambaram was lucky to get off the hook by young Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus of Turkey out of a Sicilian defense game while Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia bounced back after an uncharacteristic loss in the opener at the expense of Vincent Keymer of Germany.

Results round 2 (Indians unless specified): D Gukesh (1) drew with Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 1); Thai Dai Van Nguyen (Cze (1) drew with Arjun Erigaisi (1.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 1.5) beat R Praggnanandhaa (0); Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur, 1) drew with Aravindh Chithambaram (1); Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 1) drew with Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 1.5); Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo, 1) beat Vincent Keymer (Ger, 1); Anish Giri (Ned, 0.5) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 1). PTI Cor AH AH