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D Gukesh takes the top spot in the Masters’ points standings after his win over Pentala Harikrishna.
D Gukesh got the win over Pentala Harikrishna at the Tata Steel Chess 2025. (Image: X)
The reigning World Chess Champion, D Gukesh showcased his best form on the board at Game 7 of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025 with the win over fellow compatriot and former second at the World Chess Championship final, Penthala Harikrishna on Saturday.
Harikrishna, playing with black pieces has started off well but mistakes later on gave Gukesh the chance to get himself back in the hunt. With Gukesh’s win, he now takes the top spot in the Masters standings, with five points out of seven.
R Praggnandhaa went against the former Tata Steel world champion, Jorden van Foreest was not able to follow suit as he settled for a draw to keep him as the joint-leader, along with Gukesh and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Arjun Erigaisi’s tournament continues to disappoint as he suffered a tough defeat to the Dutch GM, Max Warmerdam as the former Indian number one resigned with a queen still being on his board. He now finds himself at the bottom of the Masters leaderboard with just 1.5 points in total.
Leon Luke Medonca, who sits at the second-last spot in the standings, managed to put up a valiant fight against the defending title holder, Wei Yi in what was a 40-move draw. In addition, the likes of Anish Giri, Abdusattorov, Fabiano Caruana, and Alexey Sarana secured draws while Vladimir Fedoseev returned to winning ways by beating Germany’s Vincent Keymer.
The eighth round of the tournament will be headlined by the all-star Indian matchup between table-toppers, D Gukesh and R Praggnanadhaa with the winner being able to establish a significant gap between the other. Among the other Indian GMs, Arjun Erigaisi takes on Alexey Sarana, Pentala Harikrishna takes on Anish Giri and Leon Luke Mendonca takes on Jorden Van Foreest as well.
| Pos | Name | Score | Rating | SB |
| 1 | Dommaraju Gukesh | 5 | 2777 | 18 |
| 2 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 5 | 2768 | 15 |
| 3 | Rameshbabu Praggnandhaa | 5 | 2741 | 14 |
| 4 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 4.5 | 2717 | 13.25 |
| 5 | Alexey Sarana | 4 | 2677 | 14.75 |
| 6 | Wei Yi | 3.5 | 2751 | 13 |
| 7 | Fabiano Caruana | 3.5 | 2805 | 11 |
| 8 | Pentala Harikrishna | 3.5 | 2695 | 8.5 |
| 9 | Anish Giri | 3 | 2731 | 10.75 |
| 10 | Max Warmerdam | 3 | 2643 | 8.5 |
| 11 | Vincent Keymer | 3 | 2733 | 8 |
| 12 | Jorden van Foreest | 2.5 | 2680 | 10 |
| 13 | Leon Luke Mendonca | 2 | 2639 | 5.75 |
| 14 | Arjun Erigaisi | 1.5 | 2801 | 4.25 |
