Tata Steel Masters 2024: Praggnanandhaa stuns World Champion Ding Liren, passes Anand to become India’s No.1

The Masters group saw Anish Giri emerge as the sole leader after his impressive endgame prowess secured victory against D Gukesh.

FILE PHOTO: R. Praggnanandhaa interacting with the media. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU / Debasish Bhaduri

On what turned out to be the brightest day for Indian chess in the New Year, R. Praggnanandhaa stunned World champion Ding Liren in the fourth round of Tata Steel Masters chess and became the top-rated Indian in live world rankings on Tuesday.

The Chennai youngster’s first victory over the Chinese, ranked fourth in the World, came in 62 moves with black pieces. For the better part of the game, Praggnanandhaa made Ding Liren suffer and closed the game by threatening a forced checkmate with a 16-move sequence. In the final position, both players had a knight each, but Praggnanandhaa’s two pawns settled the issue.

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By collecting 5.3 rating points from four rounds, Praggnanandhaa took his live rating to 2748.3, past Viswanathan Anand’s 2748.0. Praggnananandhaa now occupies his career-high 11th spot, one ahead of Anand.

The day also saw D. Gukesh suffer his second defeat while Vidit Gujrathi held local Dutch Jorden van Foreest.

In the Challengers section, D. Harika drew but Leon Mendonca and Divya Deshmukh lost.

The results (fourth round)

Masters

Ding Liren (Chn, 2) lost to R. Praggnanandhaa (2.5); Vidit Gujrathi (2) drew with Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 1.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 2.5) bt D. Gukesh (1.5); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 3) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 2); Wei Yi (Chn, 2.5) bt Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 0.5); Ian Nepomniachtchi (2.5) drew with Alexander Donchenko (Ger, 1); Max Warmerdam (Ned, 2) drew with Ju Wenjun (Chn, 1).

Challengers

Liam Vrolijk (Ned, 2) drew with D. Harika (1.5); Leon Mendonca (2) lost to Erwin L’Ami (Ned); Hans Moke Niemann (USA, 3) bt Divya Deshmukh (1.5); Anton Korobov (Ukr, 3) bt Marc Andria Maurizzi (Fra, 2); Stefan Beukema (Bel, 2) bt Daniel Dardha (Bel, 2); Mustafa Yilmaz (Tur, 1.5) bt Salem Saleh (UAE, 2); Jaime Santos Latasa (2.5) bt Eline Roebers (Ned, 0).