Another sensational win has seen R Praggnanandhaa draw level with D Gukesh atop the standings after round 12 at the Tata Steel Chess Masters tournament in Wijk aan Zee.
First, the main results:
Praggnanandhaa beat Alexey Sarana
Gukesh drew Jorden van Foreest
Arjun Erigaisi beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Leon Mendonca drew Fabiano Caruana
Pentala Harikrishna drew Vincent Keymer
Praggnanandhaa wins, keeps up pressure at the top
After winning the last two, Praggnanandhaa made it three at a trot in what he felt was a must-win game. "I really wanted to push today, and I think I got what I wanted out of the opening," he told chess.com after the match. Said opening was a bit unorthodox, with Praggnanandhaa moving his bishop a square up twice in two moves.
Sarana added to the drama by going aggressive towards the end, and while everyone seemed ready to settle in for a long-ish game, Praggnanandhaa decided things with a remarkable queen sacrifice.
The win puts him on 8.5 points, equal to compatriot Gukesh and also sees him leapfrog Alireza Firouzja in the live ratings -- he's now the world number seven.
Gukesh nearly wins, nearly loses, pulls off draw
Jorden Van Foreest held the advantage for most of his match with the world champion D Gukesh, but a slip late on (39...Rxe5) saw him hand it all over to the champ... only for it be handed straight back when Gukesh made a big error (42...Rb1). Three moves, three seconds and the momentum had first swung one way and then the other with these two errors. Van Foreest, though, didn't see his opening with time running out and in a blitz of an end-game, Gukesh managed to stave off the Dutchman.
"I'm already happy today that I managed to escape this game, but everything is set up for an exciting finish," the world champion would tell chess.com after the match.
Arjun wins a Tata Steel Chess Masters (WAZ) game, finally
It's been a while coming, but what a win this was for Arjun Erigaisi. Having not won any of his previous 24 games at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk van Zee, he pulled off a stunning win over Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who'd been challenging Gukesh and Pragg at the top of the standings all tournament. The match looked even for the most part, but a blunder in the mid-game by Abdusattorov (24...Qg5) and it was all over with Arjun seizing on the opening created and ending the game with a bishop sacrifice.
This result sees Abdusattorov drop off the leading pack and is a big dent for his title hopes.
Who do the leaders play in the final round?
Gukesh takes on this resurgent Arjun in a crunch final round encounter, knowing Praggnanandhaa is right next to him and that he can't slip up.
Praggnanandhaa will take on Vincent Keymer who played out a draw against Pentala Harikrishna in this round.
Abdusattorov, meanwhile, will need a bit of a miracle to make it to any potential tiebreakers after Sunday's final round. He needs to beat Harikrishna, and for both the leaders to lose in round 13.
Standings after Round 12
Dommaraju Gukesh: 8.5
R Praggnanandhaa: 8.5
Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 7.5
Vladimir Fedoseev: 7
Wei Yi: 6.5
Anish Giri: 6.5
Fabiano Caruana: 6
Pentala Harikrishna: 6
Vincent Keymer: 5
Jordan van Foreest: 5
Alexey Sarana: 5
Arjun Erigaisi: 4.5
Leon Luke Mendonca: 4.5
Max Warmerdam: 3.5