With only four rounds left in the Tata Steel Chess tournament, reigning world champion Gukesh D has ensured that he is in a position to win the tournament. Gukesh defeated Leon Luke Mendonca in the 9th round in just 43 moves in the Dutch city of Wijk Aan Zee.
Gukesh is participating in the tournament for the first time since becoming the youngest world champion in the history of chess after defeating Ding Liren in Singapore last month. There have been 9 rounds of this competition and so far he is undefeated in this competition. He has won four games and drawn the rest.
On the other hand, Arjun Erigaisi who came into the competition with a rating of 2801, has not won a single game so far. The 9th round win has ensured that Gukesh will go into the 10th round as the leader of the Masters section standings.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is the second Indian who was the frontrunner in the standings in the 9th round and lost to Dutch star Anish Giri. The third player who was leading is Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, who was held to a draw by Fabiano Caruana.
Gukesh now has 6.5 points, while Abdusattorov and Vladimir Fedoseev have 6 points each. Praggnanandhaa is trailing with 5.5 points. Gukesh's final four opponents include two local players. His next match will be against Max Warmerdam. After this, he will face China's Wei Yi and Jorden Van Foreest. His last match will be against India's No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi.