Challengers: White wins all seven
All seven games of the Challengers section ended decisively. They all went in favor of the players with the white pieces.
Praggnanandhaa - Arjun: 1-0
Arjun Erigaisi (2801) won the last Classical game against R Praggnanandhaa (2741) at WR Masters last year after they won Gold at 45th Olympiad. Praggnanandhaa was shocked to see Arjun opting a line in the Open Catalan which traded queens as early as seventh move.
Praggnanandhaa mentioned in the post-game interview that Black's position already started getting unpleasant after 14...Bc6. 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Nd3 Be7 17.Be3 was kind of important. He felt that b3 and c3-pawns were the main problems. Once he consolidates, then he will have a better pawn structure. Black was threatening Ne4, Bf6 to attack on c3.
Black should have started with 23...a5 to get an extra tempo instead of 23...Rb7. Praggnanandhaa felt that 25...Kd6? was definitely an inaccuracy. He should have gone 25...Rba7 and then maybe later Kd6 because it allowed white to maneuver his knight to b5 via c1-a2-c3.
Black's last mistake was 38...Rfa8? 39.Nb5 Ra6 40.Nd6+ and it's over. After the fall of f7-pawn, Black does not have much to go on.
Schedule
Starting from Saturday 18th January to 2nd February, all round starts at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Rest days are same for both Masters and Challengers section - 23rd, 27th and 30th January 2025.
Replay Live stream
Replay Round 3 Masters games
Replay Round 3 Challengers games
Round 3 results
Masters
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2741 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 1 - 0 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2801 | 14 | |
| 2 | 3 | 2639 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | ½ - ½ | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | 2695 | 1 | |
| 3 | 4 | 2646 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | 0 - 1 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2768 | 13 | |
| 4 | 5 | 2751 | GM | Wei, Yi | ½ - ½ | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2733 | 12 | |
| 5 | 6 | 2680 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | ½ - ½ | GM | Sarana, Alexey | 2677 | 11 | |
| 6 | 7 | 2777 | GM | Gukesh, D | ½ - ½ | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2803 | 10 | |
| 7 | 8 | 2731 | GM | Giri, Anish | ½ - ½ | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2717 | 9 |
Standings after Round 3
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2741 | 2,5 | 0 | 3,25 |
| 2 | 13 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | UZB | 2768 | 2,5 | 0 | 2,75 |
| 3 | 10 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | USA | 2803 | 2 | 1 | 2,75 |
| 4 | 7 | GM | Gukesh, D | IND | 2777 | 2 | 1 | 2,75 |
| 5 | 12 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | GER | 2733 | 2 | 3 | 1,75 |
| 6 | 5 | GM | Wei, Yi | CHN | 2751 | 1,5 | 1 | 2,75 |
| 7 | 11 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | SRB | 2677 | 1,5 | 1 | 1,75 |
| 8 | 9 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | SLO | 2717 | 1,5 | 3 | 2,00 |
| 9 | 1 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | IND | 2695 | 1,5 | 3 | 0,75 |
| 10 | 4 | GM | Warmerdam, Max | NED | 2646 | 1 | 0 | 1,75 |
| 11 | 6 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | NED | 2680 | 1 | 0 | 1,50 |
| 12 | 8 | GM | Giri, Anish | NED | 2731 | 1 | 0 | 1,00 |
| 13 | 3 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | IND | 2639 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,75 |
| 14 | 14 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2801 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,50 |
Round 4 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 2801 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2717 | 9 | ||
| 2 | 10 | 2803 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Giri, Anish | 2731 | 8 | ||
| 3 | 11 | 2677 | GM | Sarana, Alexey | GM | Gukesh, D | 2777 | 7 | ||
| 4 | 12 | 2733 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | 2680 | 6 | ||
| 5 | 13 | 2768 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | GM | Wei, Yi | 2751 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 1 | 2695 | GM | Harikrishna, Pentala | GM | Warmerdam, Max | 2646 | 4 | ||
| 7 | 2 | 2741 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2639 | 3 |
Challengers
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2668 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | 1 - 0 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2659 | 14 | |
| 2 | 3 | 2623 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 1 - 0 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | 2490 | 1 | |
| 3 | 4 | 2624 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | 1 - 0 | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | 2474 | 13 | |
| 4 | 5 | 2614 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | 1 - 0 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | 2583 | 12 | |
| 5 | 6 | 2447 | IM | Oro, Faustino | 1 - 0 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | 2386 | 11 | |
| 6 | 7 | 2429 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | 1 - 0 | GM | Svane, Frederik | 2664 | 10 | |
| 7 | 8 | 2514 | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | 1 - 0 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2476 | 9 |
Standings after Round 3
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | CHN | 2429 | 2,5 | 0 | 3,75 |
| 2 | 2 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | CZE | 2668 | 2,5 | 0 | 2,25 |
| 5 | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2614 | 2,5 | 0 | 2,25 | |
| 4 | 3 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | AZE | 2623 | 2 | 0 | 1,50 |
| 5 | 4 | GM | Gurel, Ediz | TUR | 2624 | 2 | 0 | 0,50 |
| 6 | 8 | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | KAZ | 2514 | 1,5 | 1 | 2,25 |
| 7 | 14 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | UZB | 2659 | 1,5 | 2 | 1,25 |
| 8 | 12 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2583 | 1,5 | 3 | 3,00 |
| 9 | 9 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2476 | 1,5 | 3 | 2,25 |
| 10 | GM | Svane, Frederik | GER | 2664 | 1,5 | 3 | 2,25 | |
| 11 | 6 | IM | Oro, Faustino | ARG | 2447 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 |
| 12 | 1 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | IND | 2490 | 0,5 | 0 | 1,25 |
| 13 | 13 | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | NED | 2474 | 0,5 | 0 | 1,00 |
| 14 | 11 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | ROU | 2386 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 |
Round 4 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 2659 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2476 | 9 | ||
| 2 | 10 | 2664 | GM | Svane, Frederik | GM | Nogerbek, Kazybek | 2514 | 8 | ||
| 3 | 11 | 2386 | IM | Bulmaga, Irina | IM | Lu, Miaoyi | 2429 | 7 | ||
| 4 | 12 | 2583 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | IM | Oro, Faustino | 2447 | 6 | ||
| 5 | 13 | 2474 | IM | Pijpers, Arthur | GM | L'Ami, Erwin | 2614 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 1 | 2490 | IM | Divya, Deshmukh | GM | Gurel, Ediz | 2624 | 4 | ||
| 7 | 2 | 2668 | GM | Nguyen, Thai Dai Van | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 2623 | 3 |
Time Control
100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds increment for each move starting from the first move.
