Praggnanandhaa and Abdusattorov share lead in the Tata Steel Masters after three rounds - 3

The third round of the Tata Steel Masters saw five draws and the only decisive results came right at the end but they did mean Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov were in a two way share of the lead. The draws came in stark contrast to the seven white wins in the Challengers group which really shook up the standings there.

In the Masters Praggnanandhaa converted an advantage over a struggling Arjun Erigaisi. Max Warmerdam was still very much in the game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov until very near the end when his position collapsed, although his position was surely harder to handle. Wei Yi finally got a real game against Vincent Keymer but was on the worse side of the draw. Gukesh was a bit better against Fabiano Caruana when he acquiesced to the repetition offered. It was a relief to see Leon Luke Mendonca, who hasn't been well, get his first half point against Pentala Harikrishna. Giri-Fedoseev and Van Foreest Sarana were also drawn.

My thanks to Michiel Abeln for writing today's report, annotating the games and providing the pictures you can read in the main body of the article, this allowed me to work on today's TWIC.

Masters Round 3 Standings: 1st= Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov 2.5pts 3rd= Caruana, Gukesh, Keymer 2pts 6th= Wei Yi, Sarana, Fedoseev, Harikrishna 1.5pts 10th= Warmerdam, Van Foreest, Giri 1pt 13th= Mendonca, Erigaisi 0.5pts.

Masters Round 4 Pairings 21st Jan 1pm GMT: Erigaisi-Fedoseev, Caruana-Giri, Sarana-Gukesh, Keymer-Van Foreest, Abdusattorov-Wei, Harikrishna-Warmerdam, Praggnanandhaa-Mendonca.

Challengers Round 3 Standings: 1st= Lu, Nguyen, L'Ami 2.5pts, 4th= Suleymanli, Gurel 2pts, 6th= Nogerbek, Yakubboev, Bok, Vaishali, Frederik Svane 1.5pts 11th Faustino Oro 1pt 12th= Divya, Pijpers 0.5pts 14th Bulmaga 0pts

Challengers Round 4 Pairings 21st Jan 1pm GMT: Yakubboev-Vaishali, Svane-Nogerbek, Bulmaga-Lu, Bok-Oro, Pijpers-L'Ami, Divya-Gurel, Nguyen-Suleymanli,