It’s something of a rite of passage in chess — the new champ is a marked man when he first returns to the board. Indian teenager Dommaraju Gukesh, who became the youngest world champion ever when he dethroned Chinese GM Deng Liren in their December title match,

Gukesh grabbed a win from the jaws of defeat, while R Praggnanandhaa also earned a draw after being in a losing position.

Heading into the 87th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025, the reigning world chess champion D Gukesh was ranked World No. 5 and India No. 2, trailing only Arjun Erigaisi.However, the campaign in Wijk aan Zee began on a sour note for Arjun.

D Gukesh, the defending world champion, was off to a winning start in the 2025 Tata Steel Chess tournament in Netherlands, as he defeated Anish Giri. In other matches, defeated Arjun Erigaisi whereas R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Arjun Erigaisi's losing run was stemmed with a draw against compatriot Leon Luke Mendonca, while Pentala Harikrishna also opted for an early draw against Chinese GM Wei Yi. The big surprise of Round 5 was Vladimir Fedoseev's shock win over Fabiano Caruana, which drew him level with Gukesh on 3.5 points.