In the eighth round of the prestigious Tata Steel Masters 2025 in Wijk Aan Zee, Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa continued his impressive form with a hard-fought draw against world champion D Gukesh. The game featured a Berlin Defense, where Praggnanandhaa, playing White, held a slight advantage, but Gukesh's resourceful pawn sacrifice in the early middle game kept the game balanced. Despite Praggnanandhaa's attempts to capitalize on the position, the game reached a rook-and-minor-piece endgame, and a draw was inevitable after 33 moves. Both players remain in the lead with 5.5 points, tied with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who triumphed over Vladimir Fedoseev.

In other notable Indian performances, Grandmaster P Harikrishna held a draw against the highest-ranked Dutch player, Anish Giri, in a Ruy Lopez encounter. Harikrishna reached four points out of eight, while Giri earned his seventh consecutive draw, bringing his tally to 3.5 points. Arjun Erigaisi and Leon Luke Mendonca also played draws against Alexey Sarana and Jorden van Foreest, respectively.

In the Challengers section, Nguyen Thai Van Dam of the Czech Republic surged to the sole lead with six points, defeating 14-year-old Chinese player Miaoyi Lu. Indian players R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh faced mixed results, with Vaishali drawing against Arthur Pijpers and Deshmukh suffering another loss to Kazakhstan's Kazybek Nogerbek.

After eight rounds, the competition takes a brief rest day before resuming on Tuesday, as the 90-year-old tradition of Tata Steel Masters continues to showcase elite chess battles.