Chess

Abdusattorov keeps the sole lead at Tata Steel Masters 2023

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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, Nodirbek 5½/7 2713
2  Giri, Anish 4½/7 2764
3  Caruana, Fabiano 4½/7 2766
4  Praggnanandhaa 4½/7 2684
5  So, Wesley 4½/7 2760
6  Aronian, Levon 4/7 2735
7  Ding, Liren 3½/7 2811
8  Maghsoodloo, Parham 3½/7 2719
9  Carlsen, Magnus 3½/7 2859
10  Erigaisi Arjun 3/7 2722
11  Rapport, Richard 2½/7 2740
12  Keymer, Vincent 2/7 2696
13  Van Foreest, Jorden 2/7 2681
14  Gukesh D 1½/7 2725

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