Mustafa Yilmaz grabs the lead in Tata Steel Challengers 2023
Nine rounds are played at the Tata Steel Challengers 2023 in Wijk aan Zee and fight for the first place and qualification spot for the next Tata Steel Masters is going wild. Mustafa Yilmaz scored against Vaishali R to grab the sole lead in the event as Alexander Donchenko lost with White against Erwin L’Ami.
Yilmaz now scores 6.5 points to be half a point ahead of Javokhir Sindarov, Velimir Ivic and Alexander Donchenko. Velimir Ivic drew against Amin Tabatabaei with black pieces to hold his close position to the top, while Javokhir Sindarov defeated Abhimanyu Mishra to get into the three-way tie for second place with 6 points.
Rankings after 9 played rounds:
| 1 | Yilmaz, Mustafa | 6½/9 | 2609 |
| 2 | Sindarov, Javokhir | 6/9 | 2654 |
| 3 | Ivic, Velimir | 6/9 | 2585 |
| 4 | Donchenko, Alexander | 6/9 | 2627 |
| 5 | Adhiban, B. | 5/9 | 2610 |
| 6 | Tabatabaei, M. Amin | 5/9 | 2686 |
| 7 | Beerdsen, Thomas | 5/9 | 2515 |
| 8 | L’Ami, Erwin | 4½/9 | 2627 |
| 9 | Warmerdam, Max | 4½/9 | 2616 |
| 10 | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 3½/9 | 2425 |
| 11 | Supi, Luis Paulo | 3½/9 | 2608 |
| 12 | Mishra, Abhimanyu | 3/9 | 2559 |
| 13 | Roebers, Eline | 2½/9 | 2361 |
| 14 | Pechac, Jergus | 2/9 | 2637 |