Tata Steel Chess Wijk aan Zee: Gukesh Dommaraju registers first win in Round 5

The reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju finally registered his first win of the 2026 Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee, beating Thai Dai Van Nguyen in the fifth round on Wednesday.

In a battle which lasted 51 moves, Gukesh capitalised on a blunder from his opponent to climb up to 3 points in five rounds.

Gukesh, who had finished runner-up last year in the tournament, had started his campaign with four successive draws in the tournament. He had played out a draw apiece with Javokhir Sindarov, Jorden van Foreest, Arjun Erigaisi, and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.

While Gukesh registered an important victory in the fifth round, Praggnanandhaa's winless run extended further.

Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw with the white pieces in the fifth round by home favourite Anish Giri. The Indian now has drawn three straight games after starting off his campaign with two successive loses against Erigaisi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Meanwhile, Erigaisi fell to his first loss of the tournament in the fifth round as he went down to Vladimir Fedoseev with the white pieces.