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Four rounds, zero wins: Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa’s search for victory at Tata Steel Chess streches on

Previously, Gukesh had stalemates against Javokhir Sindarov, Jorden van Foreest and Arjun Erigaisi. Meanwhile, after his first two games ended in defeats, this was the second consecutive draw for Pragg.

3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jan 21, 2026 12:42 PM IST

L-R: Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh in action during Tata Steel Masters 2026. (PHOTO: Tata Steel Masters/Lennart Ootes)

D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa’s winless streaks at the Tata Steel Chess tournament stretched into the fourth round after the duo played out a draw in the year’s first classical event in Wijk aan Zee on Tuesday.

Gukesh and Pragg were involved in a 40-move draw after threefold repetition with Gukesh’s queen and Praggnanandhaa’s king shuffling around as a formality in the end.

Previously, Gukesh had stalemates against Javokhir Sindarov, Jorden van Foreest and Arjun Erigaisi. Meanwhile, after his first two games ended in defeats, this was the second consecutive draw for Pragg.

The decisive moment of the game came on move 26, when Gukesh, responding to Pragg playing 25…c5, played 26.c4 —opting to push his c pawn ahead by a square rather than playing 26.h5 which would have forced Pragg’s knight to retreat. The h pawn would have also acted as a permanent thorn in the side of the cavalry standing in front of Pragg’s king. After the draw was agreed, the two Indians seemed to be analysing that move.

ALSO READ | Are India’s top chess players Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa flirting with fatigue?

“You make that move and realise that something’s gone wrong,” noted International Master Soumya Swaminathan on the live commentary on ChessBase India. She also pointed out how some of Gukesh’s moves in the game looked “cautious”.

“Maybe because he knows that Pragg is always very well prepared,” she reasoned.

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The third top Indian grandmaster in the fray, Arjun Erigaisi, has had a much better performance at Wijk aan Zee so far, beating Pragg in the opening round before two draws. At the time of going to press, Erigaisi was locked in combat with local hero Anish Giri, who is also struggling with form at Wijk aan Zee.

The Tata Steel Chess tournament is the start of the classical chess season in a year when both Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa will have to be at their best. Praggnanandhaa will soon be preparing with full gusto for the Candidates tournament in Cyprus in March-April, which will decide the challenger for Gukesh at the world championship in November-December. The duo is also expected to join forces for the Chess Olympiad in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand in September.

The Wijk aan Zee tournament is notoriously tough to reverse a slump, thanks to the event being long (13 rounds) and the frigid weather in the Dutch town hampering players’ routines like long walks to reset after a bad game. Last year, Erigaisi won his first game only in round 12.

Amit Kamath

Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. He primarily writes on chess and Olympic sports, and co-hosts the Game Time podcast, a weekly offering from Express Sports. He also writes a weekly chess column, On The Moves. ... Read More