Fedoseev Beats Caruana; Abdusattorov, Gukesh Also Win Before Showdown
GM Vladimir Fedoseev pounced on an endgame mistake to beat GM Fabiano Caruana in round five of the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters and has now defeated the world numbers one, two, and four in the space of four months. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov caught GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in the lead on 4/5 with what IM Tania Sachdev called an "insanely beautiful" win over GM Jorden van Foreest, and after the rest day he'll face off against World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who ground down his second GM Vincent Keymer in a game that lasted over six hours.
GM Erwin l'Ami is the sole leader of the Tata Steel Chess Challengers after beating IM Divya Deshmukh in round five, and is half a point ahead of GM Benjamin Bok, who scored a beautiful win over IM Lu Miaoyi, and GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen, who pulled off a 119-move great escape against GM Ediz Gurel.
Round six starts on Friday, January 24, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CET / 6:30 p.m. IST.
Masters: Fedoseev, Abdusattorov, Gukesh Win In Round 5
Tata Steel Chess Masters: Round 5 Results
Abdusattorov caught Praggnanandhaa in the lead, but Gukesh and Fedoseev are only half a point behind.
Tata Steel Chess Masters: Standings After Round 5
The last round before the first rest day in Wijk aan Zee saw a number of relatively quiet draws. Defending champion GM Wei Yi explained he'd expected GM Pentala Harikrishna to push his e-pawn two squares at the start of the game and was shocked when it moved just one, for the French Defense. Wei then overlooked his opponent's 13th move and found himself slightly worse, so that he was happy to take a 22-move draw by repetition—his fifth draw in this year's event.
There were much longer draws in GM Max Warmerdam vs. Praggnanandhaa and GM Anish Giri vs. GM Alexey Sarana, but in neither game did we come close to seeing blood spilled. The same can't be said of GM Leon Luke Mendonca vs. GM Arjun Erigaisi, where the world number-four faced the bottom seed in a chance to turn the tide of a disastrous event where he'd lost just one less classical game than he lost in the whole of 2024.
Any doubts that Arjun would come out all-guns-blazing vanished when he went for the hyper-aggressive Blumenfeld Gambit, giving up a pawn on move four.
Arjun has played the Blumenfeld Countergambit! https://t.co/5YeeekSjUw#TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/G53jFxwvoJ
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 22, 2025
It failed to bring Arjun any winning chances or real compensation, however, and he was somewhat lucky that Mendonca, who had also lost three games in the event, was ready to stop the bleeding with a 30-move draw by repetition rather than try and fight for a win.
That game saw Arjun already slip below Gukesh into the world number-five spot, but there were three big wins to follow that would shake up the live ratings even more.
Fedoseev 1-0 Caruana
This was the shock result of the round, though by now we should perhaps have stopped being shocked to see Fedoseev beating the world's best players. He defeated GM Magnus Carlsen in round nine of the 2024 FIDE Chess Olympiad in September, and then took down Arjun in Wijk aan Zee. Fedoseev himself was somewhat surprised to succeed again a day later, however, since he'd decided to be "as solid as possible" in round five.
Actually from my opening choice you can notice that I was not in the mood for a big fight today. I chose a relatively solid line with huge drawish tendencies. I thought if he will not try to play or something I can just try to make a threefold repetition out of it, because after the first four days I was quite tired, and in such a long tournament you need somewhere a break, and a little bit more of rest than those three [rest] days.
I was not in the mood for a big fight today.
—Vladimir Fedoseev
The game that followed was balanced, but Fedoseev revealed he'd been prepared as far as move 20, while Caruana seemed to misjudge a number of pawn breaks. When they reached "some really full-of-life endgame," Fedoseev was happy to pose problems and ultimately provoke the world number-two into the single clear mistake of the game, 41...Bg2?. After 42.e5! it looked as though there was already no way back.
"It’s probably my best technical game in my life," said Fedoseev, who couldn't be faulted when he explained, "I think I was accurate in calculation to the end of the game and probably made zero mistakes."
That win knocked Caruana out of the 2800 club, while Fedoseev has now gained 19.4 points in January (including two Bundesliga wins), seeing him climb above his official peak rating of 2733 to 2736.4 and number 17 on the live rating list, above GMs Ding Liren and Hans Niemann.
"I'm on my way to remove it as a weakness," said Fedoseev of classical chess, adding that he could now focus for a full game, while, "a couple of years ago I was really struggling in classical chess to maintain some kind of emotional stability during the game."
Despite the perfection in the final stages from Fedoseev, the Game of the Day was still played by Abdusattorov, who was helped by the ambition shown by Van Foreest.
Van Foreest 0-1 Abdusattorov
Van Foreest's shock win over Abdusattorov in the final round in 2023 denied the Uzbek star the Tata Steel Chess Masters title, but he already got revenge in the 2024 edition before his latest masterpiece. Abdusattorov played the Caro-Kann, but although he was moving relatively fast it looked as though things had gone badly wrong.
Abdusattorov was disarmingly candid afterward, admitting 4.c4 had already come as a surprise and he'd failed to recall his analysis, but he didn't let that stop him: "Usually I try to play as fast as possible even when I don’t remember my analysis, just to be confident and to keep up the pressure!"
Usually I try to play as fast as possible even when I don't remember my analysis.
—Nodirbek Abdusattorov
His rivals may file that under "good to know"!
Van Foreest lost the thread, however, when he pushed his b-pawn, and then he went for a spectacular knight sacrifice that Abdusattorov seemed to have had fully worked out in advance.
After 20...exd5 21.Bxd5 it's easy to get checkmated on the spot if you try to save your bishop, but Abdusattorov correctly simply moved his king.
Absolute chillest brilliant move of all time? 🥶
— Chess.com (@chesscom) January 22, 2025
Nodirbek is pushing for a win and a chance at the top spot in #TataSteelChess! pic.twitter.com/2CF3WJq2jZ
The cool chess would continue, with English GM David Howell singing the praises of the rook sacrifice that launched an incredible final stage of the game where Abdusattorov's king marched up a board full of menace to aid in a checkmating attack.
The depth of the tactics and geometry involved in order for 32...Rxf4!! to work in Van Foreest vs Abdusattorov = more than just beautiful 😍 Anyone wanting to hone their calculation skills, go check it out! Chess coaches, take note and go test your students 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7sHTKoQmEm
— David Howell (@DavidHowellGM) January 22, 2025
What the 20-year-old had needed to calculate at that point was awe-inspiring.
🤯#TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/GGkOKYrgLc
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 22, 2025
GM Rafael Leitao analyses the game below.
"I always like to calculate, so I try to find these kind of lines—it was very pleasant!" said Abdusattorov. He also caught Praggnanandhaa in the lead, while in Friday's round six he'll get to face-off against another in-form player—the current world champion.
Gukesh warmed up by beating his world championship second, Keymer.
Gukesh 1-0 Keymer
Gukesh needed 72 moves and well over six hours to clinch the win, but the result made it all worthwhile:
Especially when you win such a long game you’re relieved and happy—I think overall it was a good game, until at some point close to the end I messed up so bad, but luckily I won it!
It was a double-edged game, with Keymer seeming to go wrong when he pushed his pawn to f4. Gukesh centralized his forces and won a pawn, but Keymer's second GM Peter Leko correctly noted that there was a move that could have equalized there—30...Ne8!. Down to 41 seconds, however, the German GM missed the moment and reached the time control with a position Gukesh assessed as "completely winning because I have a bishop, an open position, and just a pawn up."
Gukesh was kicking himself for how he converted from there, but he got the job done.
It took over 6 hours, but World Champion @DGukesh picks up a 2nd win and secures his new position as World no. 4 on the rating list! https://t.co/BFWLAey5E7#TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/Q9H57UOKVT
— chess24 (@chess24com) January 22, 2025
With that win Gukesh moved above Arjun to the world number-four spot and completed a good five days' work after arriving by plane only on the morning of round one. After the rest day he plays Abdusattorov and is relishing the challenge: "He’s always an exciting player to play against, because we both are always fighting!"
The main goal, however, is to win the tournament, with Gukesh adding, "For any chess player winning Tata Steel is one dream... A grandmaster has to win Wijk aan Zee before dying!"
He was referring to a quote by GM Bent Larsen that's emblazoned on the wall of the venue: "Normal people have to see Naples before they die... but a Chess Grandmaster has to win Wijk aan Zee first."
Normal people have to see Naples before they die... but a Chess Grandmaster has to win Wijk aan Zee first.
—Bent Larsen
There are eight rounds to go.
Challengers: Erwin L'Ami Takes Sole Lead
There were three leaders going into round five, but only one would remain when it was over.
Tata Steel Chess Challengers: Round 5 Results
Thirty-nine-year-old L'Ami, the oldest player in either section of the tournament, has taken the sole lead.
Tata Steel Chess Challengers: Standings After Round 5
L'Ami scored a convincing win over Divya, while Bok got the better of 14-year-old Lu with a spectacular rook sacrifice played with nine seconds to spare!
The other co-leader, Nguyen, couldn't win but did somehow survive a grueling 119-move clash with 16-year-old Gurel. The final moves were wild, with wins and saves both missed.
Nguyen's escape left the top-seed level with Bok half a point behind L'Ami, and very much in need of a rest day!
The action returns on Friday.
How To Watch
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:
- Round 4: Praggnanandhaa Leads After 3rd Straight Win; Heartbreak For Arjun
- Round 3: Pragg Beats Arjun, Leads With Abdusattorov—7/7 For White In Challengers
- Round 2: Caruana, Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa Win To Join Leaders
- Round 1: Gukesh Beats Giri In Thriller As Tata Steel Chess Starts With A Bang
- Tata Steel Chess 2025: 7 Talking Points
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.
