Praggnanandhaa beats Gukesh to become Tata Steel champion

Praggnanandhaa beats Gukesh to become Tata Steel champion

Praggnanandhaa beats Gukesh to become Tata Steel champion BySusan Ninan Feb 03, 2025 12:53 AM IST Share Via Copy Link Gukesh’s first loss as world champion was followed by Pragg’s defeat, leaving both tied at the top. Pragg won the tiebreaker against Gukesh to clinch title

Bengaluru: It came down to two Indian co-leaders in the final round of the Tata Steel Masters – reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. As luck would have it, Gukesh’s first loss as world champion ended up arriving on the day he could least afford it. In Round 13 in Wijk Aan Zee, the 18-year-old world champion lost to fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi, and all Praggnanandhaa needed was a draw against Vincent Keymer to become champion. In a day of high drama and twists, Praggnanandhaa ended up losing to Keymer and an all-Indian tiebreak followed.

R Praggnanandhaa defeated D Gukesh in the tiebreaker to win the Tata Steel Masters title. (PTI)

In the two-game blitz play-off match of 3 minutes with a two-second increment per move, Gukesh started with the White pieces after a draw of lots. Praggnanandhaa blundered, lost his rook and was faced with the task of striking with White in the second game to keep the tie-break going. After seven hours of classical play, Praggnanandhaa must have been understandably spent. He still managed to land a blow with White and the match entered ‘sudden death’ territory. Praggnanandhaa had the White pieces next and the Queens were off pretty early. Gukesh ended up over-extending in an equal endgame, squandered away a piece and sank back in his chair in despair. It was all over for the world champion and Praggnanandhaa walked away with the biggest tournament win of his career so far in a fitting finale.

Praggnanandhaa became the first Indian after five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand to win the Tata Steel Masters title in Wijk Aan Zee. Anand has won the tournament five times, the first time being in 1989. It’s after 19 years that an Indian has again won the title. Praggnanandhaa, who started the tournament ranked 14 in the world, moved up to world No 7 in the live ratings.

Praggnanandhaa is coming off a rather quiet year. In a year when Gukesh turned world champion and Arjun rocketed up the rankings and put up a stellar show at the Olympiad to win an individual gold, Praggnanandhaa didn’t seem to match the firepower of his compatriots on the board. Some of it could be down to the 19-year-old choosing to play a bit too solid in the major elite events. In the Dutch town on the North Sea coast over the past two weeks though, Praggnanandhaa seemed to have found his groove after a while and entered Sunday’s final round tied for first place with Gukesh.

Arjun, who had a tough outing, found redemption in the fag end, taking down two of the tournament’s strongest players – Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Gukesh on successive days, giving his buddy Praggnanandhaa a chance to win the tournament outright.

Interestingly, Gukesh came pretty close to winning the title last year as well. He lost to Wei Yi in the tiebreaks then. Until the final round this time, Gukesh had an incredible tournament, moving up to world No 3 in the live ratings. Arjun chose to play the Petroff and went on to mount an assault on White’s King. Gukesh, who usually manages to find the resources to wriggle out of sticky situations on the board, sat there shaking his head in disappointment before resigning after 31 moves.

Pentala Harikrishna, who also served on Gukesh’s team for the World Championship, helpfully held Abdusattorov to a draw in the final round, snuffing out all title hopes for the Uzbek GM and ensuring that the title would be claimed only by an Indian. The 14-player Masters section featured five of the world’s top ten players, and, in a sign of the times, it was two Indians fighting to take home the title.