Tata Steel Chess 2026 - Pragg vs Erigaisi
source: chess.com
Greetings to all chess fans! The Tata Steel Chess tournament is ongoing and can be watched live in lichess.com. It's known as the Wimbledon of chess and attracts the strongest players in the world. Indian GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu is back to defend the title he won last year. He's one of India's top players in the company of World Champion Gukesh and world number 5 Arjun Erigaisi who are also playing in the tournament. I picked up Prag's first round game against Arjun which he lost badly.
The game started with 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. Nf3 exd4 5. Bxc4 Nc6 6. Qb3 Bb4+ 7. Nbd2 Qf6 8. O-O Nge7 9. e5 Qg6 10. Nh4 Qh5
The opening looks sharp but this position has been played before. White already tucked his King to safety and Black should also castle at this point. 11. Ndf3 Ba5?!
A dubious decision by Pragg. The usual move is to castle and see his own King to safety. 12. h3 d3?!
Another strange move. Opening up the position while his King is still in the center. 13. Qxd3 Nxe5?! 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 15. Nf3 Qd6 16. Qb3? Be6??
Bad move resulting to an isolated pawn on e6. He should have castled instead. 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Rd1 Qb6 19. Qa4+
Black offers a trade of Queens that White declined. Ideally, you should keep pieces when you have the advantage and press the attack. 19. ...c6 20. Qe4 Qb5 21. Qxe6?! Qf5 22. Qe2 Rf8?!
White won a pawn while Black's King is still in the center. The game is practically over at this point. Pragg prolongs the game. 23. Rd3 Bb6 24. Bg5 Rf7 25. g4 Qg6 26. Re1?!
Now White has pressure on the e7 Knight and keeping the King in the center. 26. ...Bxf2+?! 27. Kxf2 Qxg5 28. Kg2 Qc5 29. Ne5 Rf4 30. Nd7 Qg5 31. Qe6 O-O-O??
Black ends the game by castling into a mating position. It's a mate in eleven after 32. Nf6+ 1-0
Link: https://lichess.org/broadcast/tata-steel-chess-2026--masters/round-1/FRGTkE8Z/QpR7LaH5
It was not a good start for the defending champion. He looked off his form in this game. I checked his next games and he lost his Round 2 match and drew his next two games for 1 point after four rounds.
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