IMAGE: Indian GM Gukesh blundered almost with a blind-eye and had to resign immediately. Photograph: Tata Steel Chess/X
Key Points
- Gukesh blunders in a rare chess blindspot, losing to Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Round 6.
- Abdusattorov leads Tata Steel 2026 with 4.5 points, while Gukesh and other Indians trail behind.
- Arjun Erigaisi escapes defeat after opponent Matthias Bluebaum also falls into a blindspot, game drawn.
World champion D Gukesh was himself to blame as he fell into a blindspot and made an unimaginable blunder to go down to Nodirbek Abdusatorov of Uzbekistan in a sixth round match of the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands on Saturday.
Top seeded Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, meanwhile, benefitted from a similar oversight by Matthias Bluebaum of Germany to salvage half a point.
Gukesh’s lapse hands win to Abdusattorov
On a day filled with drama, Indian GM Gukesh blundered almost with a blind-eye and had to resign immediately in a position he would have survived with a possible draw.
It’s very clear to what is referred as a blind-spot in chess when at a given moment the player is not able to recognize for a few seconds what’s happening. While this was the first instance for Gukesh to go through this after becoming a Grandmaster, his fans and followers would hope that it was also the last time.
Arjun, on the other hand, was dead lost against Bluebaum, the German who surprised everyone by qualifying to the Candidates tournament later this year.
However, as luck would have it, Bluebaum also suffered from a seemingly blind-spot as he failed to find a simple winning sequence of moves as was constructed by the panel of pundits analysing the games. The game was drawn, giving Arjun a sigh of relief.
R Praggnanandhaa’s hunt for an elusive victory continued at almost the mid-way of this 13-round marathon as the Indian was held to a draw by a recently resurrected Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia.
World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan for once could not get the complexities rolling in his favour and was held by Aravindh Chithambaram in another important clash of round 6.
With Seven rounds still to come, Abdusattorov is now firmly in front with 4.5 points and he is followed by Sindarov on four points. Hans Moke Niemann of United States and Vincent Keymer of Germany share the third spot on 3.5 points each with a bunch of players, including Gukesh and Arjun, following them.
Results Round 6: Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 4.5) beat D Gukesh (Ind, 3); R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 2) drew with Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo, 3.5); Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 3) drew with Arjun Erigaisi (Ind, 2.5); Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 2) drew with Javokhir SIndarov (Uzb, 4); Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 3.5) lost to Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3.5); Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Tur, 3) beat Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 3); Thai Dai Van Nugyen (Cze, 2) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 1.5).
