Tata Steel Masters: D Gukesh beats Mendonca to jump into sole lead

D. Gukesh emerged as the sole leader at the Tata Steel Master after defeating Leon Luke Mendonca, while R Praggnanandhaa suffered his first loss to Anish Giri. The spotlight also shone on P Harikrishna who lost to Vladimir Fedoseev, highlighting a day of intense competition.

In Short

• Gukesh beats Mendonca to take lead at Tata Steel Masters
• Praggnanandhaa loses to Anish Giri, shares fourth spot
• Gukesh scores 6.5 points, ahead of Abdusattorov and Fedoseev

World Champion D. Gukesh crashed through the defences of compatriot Leon Luke Mendonca in the ninth round to jump into sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters here.

On a day when R Praggnanandhaa lost his first game against Dutch GM Anish Giri, veteran P Harikrishna also found himself under the spotlight, falling to Russian-turned-Slovenian Vladimir Fedoseev.

"I'm happy that I played a good game today and there are still four rounds left so I'm not thinking much about the standings. I'm just happy as to how I am playing," Gukesh said after his game.

With the win, Gukesh took his tally to 6.5 points out of a possible nine and a half points ahead of Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Russian turned Slovenian Fedoseev, who are both on 6 points.

Praggnanadhaa, on 5.5 points, shares the fourth spot and it remains to be seen if things are going to get better for the Indian.

Results round 9 Masters:

Anish Giri (Ned, 4.5) beat R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 5.5); D Gukesh (Ind, 6.5) beat Leon Luke Mendonca (Ind, 2.5); Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo, 6) beat P Harikrishna (4); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 3.5) drew with Max Warmerdam (3.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 5) drew with Arjun Erigaisi (Ind, 2.5); Alexey Sarana (Srb, 5) drew with Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3.5); Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 6).