Tata Steel Masters: Six wins in 52 games and 69 ratings points lost, how the event offered a reality check for Indian chess

This year, the Tata Steel Chess tournament featured among its youngest fields with players like 14-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus getting a taste of a super-elite invitational tournament.

The results for Indians were in stark contrast to their performances in the previous Tata Steel Chess tournament, where Gukesh and Pragg had fought it out in the tiebreaks at the end of the tournament to figure out a winner. This year, the closest any Indian got to the title was joint 8th spot.

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While Gukesh managed to win three games, the remaining three Indians managed to win just one game each, with Arjun’s win coming over compatriot and good friend Pragg while Pragg’s win coming over a fellow stablemate from RB Ramesh’s academy, Aravindh.

What will make matters even worse for the Indian stars will be the fact that the top 2 players in the standings were the Uzbek duo of Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov. Abdusattorov won the title after scoring 9 out of 13 while Sindarov, who won the FIDE World Cup in Goa just a couple of months back, was second with 8.5 points. In contrast, Gukesh was the top finisher among Indians, ending at joint 8th position with 6.5 points along with Anish Giri and Vladimir Fedoseev. The trio of Pragg (5.5 points), Arjun (4.5 points) and Aravindh (4.5) were among the bottom four players at the end of the event.

Simmering rivalry

Over the last half a decade, the rivalry between India and Uzbekistan has been simmering in the sport, thanks to the Uzbek team winning Olympiad gold on India’s home turf in 2022—that too with a victory over an Indian team with players like Gukesh and Pragg in the final round. The Indians had then bounced back to claim the gold at Budapest in 2024. The third act of the rivalry will play out in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand later this year, where the Indians will defend their title with heavy hopes hanging on the shoulders of players like Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun.

After a wretched Wijk, Gukesh is now India’s only player in the top 10 standings, coming in at no 10, while Sindarov leapt in 11th spot over Arjun (world no 12) and Pragg (no 14).

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The results of the Indians are particularly alarming because this is a crucial year for them: in a couple of months’ time, Pragg will be playing in his second Candidates tournament harbouring hopes of making it to the world championship fight while Gukesh will defend his world champion’s crown in November-December. The Indian team will also defend their Olympiad crown.

Pragg’s results at Wijk aan Zee come on the heels of a swashbuckling 2025, where he won multiple strong tournaments on the way to securing a Candidates spot. Arjun too entered 2026 on the back of twin bronze medals at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship. And while Gukesh racked up more wins and lost less ratings points than the rest of the Indians, many of the decisions he made on the board have been alarming. He made horror blunders against Abdusattorov (with a move that lost him the game instantly), Anigh Giri, and against Hans Niemann (with a knight sacrifice that gave the besieged American a get-out-of-jail-free card). He’s also allowed winning positions in a couple games, most notably against Sindarov, to slip away into draws.