Tata Steel Chess Wijk Aan Zee: Praggnanandhaa faces a second consecutive defeat
Pragg lost to Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in round 2, following his first-round defeat to Arjun Erigaisi.
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov in round 2 of Wijk aan Zee 2026. (Photo Credit: Chess.com)
The defending champion GM Praggnanandhaa faced his second consecutive defeat at the 2026 Tata Steel Chess Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands on Sunday.
Pragg lost to Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in round 2 with the black pieces, following his first-round defeat against Arjun Erigaisi, to stay at the bottom of the table.
Arjun, meanwhile, drew his game against Thai Dai Van Nguyen of Czechia, to remain in joint lead with Nodirbek and Hans Niemann of the USA with 1.5 points each.
Meanwhile, World champion Gukesh Dommaraju played a second successive draw against Dutch GM Jordan Van Foreest, having 1 point from 2 games.
Aravindh Chithambram has also played two draws in two matches against Germany's Matthias Bluebaum and Turkish GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus.
Both Aravindh and Gukesh will next take on the current joint leaders, Nodirbek and Arjun, respectively, in the third round on Monday, hoping to remain unbeaten at the event.
On the other hand, Praggnanandhaa will aim to open his account against Thai Dai Van Nguyen of Czechia, having white pieces in the third round matchup.
Wijk aan Zee is the first Super GM classical tournament of the year, with 14 participants in the Masters section, competing against each other in a single round-robin format.
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