Indian Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju opened up on his costly blunder against Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2026 after bouncing back with a crucial Round 8 win over Vladimir Fedoseev.
Indian Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju opened up about his
costly blunder against Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the 2026 Tata Steel Chess Masters after bouncing back with a crucial win in Round 8 on Sunday.
Speaking after his victory over Vladimir Fedoseev with the black pieces, Gukesh admitted that the mistake against Abdusattorov was hard to explain. “The best part is that I can’t even explain how it happened,” Gukesh said with a smile. “These kinds of blunders are sometimes easier to handle than mistakes you can explain — they just happen. After that, I managed to move on.”
The blunder had come two rounds earlier against the Uzbek star Abdusattorov. Gukesh’s mistake led to the immediate loss of a pawn and then a rook, leaving him in a losing position. He resigned soon after and was clearly shaken by what had happened.
Gukesh says loss against Anish hurt him more
The disappointment continued the next day as Gukesh lost again, this time to Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri. Reflecting on that game, Gukesh was brutally honest. “The more painful game was against Anish, because I was completely off and played one of my worst games in a long time,” he said.
After back-to-back losses, the Round 8 game against Fedoseev became very important for the young Indian. “It was a good challenge to keep playing good chess, and I managed to do that,” Gukesh added. “Today it was especially important to win a nice game before tomorrow’s rest day.”
Gukesh’s reaction after the loss to Abdusattorov showed how deeply the result had affected him. He remained seated at the board for several minutes, silent, even as Abdusattorov tried to analyse the game with him. Later, he spent more time alone in the press room, trying to come to terms with the blunder.
Round 8 brought mixed results for the
Indian contingent. While Gukesh registered a fine win, Praggnanandhaa drew his game against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. India’s top-ranked player Arjun Erigaisi and Aravindh Chithambaram also shared points in their all-Indian encounter.
At the top of the table, Abdusattorov continues to lead the tournament with 5.5 points despite losing to Anish Giri in Round 8. Gukesh, with 4 points from eight rounds, remains in the middle of the standings but will look to build momentum in the remaining five rounds of the tournament.
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