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R Praggnanandhaa was taken aback after he stunned world champion D Gukesh to win the Tata Steel Masters 2025. After around eight wickets on Sunday, February 2, Praggnanandhaa had the last laugh at Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands.
Gukesh, who last year became the second Indian after the legendary Viswanathan Anand to win the world championship, stumbled under pressure. Praggnanandhaa, on the other hand, became the first Indian since Anand in 2006 to claim the Tata Steel Masters title.
After 13 rounds, the clash went into a tie-breaker, with both players locked on 8.5 points each. In the end, Praggnanandhaa held his nerve to come up trumps but said that he needed to work on certain aspects of his game.
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"It was very long, close to eight hours, the first game itself lasted like 6.5 hours and then we had this blitz, it was a crazy day. This is a very special event in the chess world and I have seen games from this tournament growing up. Last year, it did not go my way so I was really motivated for this tournament,” Praggnanandhaa said as quoted by PTI.
"I think it showed in my play that I was quite ambitious in all the games trying to fight, that’s why we saw many decisive games. I knew what went wrong in the last six months and I knew what I needed to work on. I will keep trying to get better at it. I changed some things for this tournament (in my play) and it worked," Praggnanandhaa added.
How Praggnanandhaa got the better of Gukesh
Gukesh, who defeated Ding Liren in the world championship final last December, made an impressive start in the tie-breaker against Praggnanandhaa, winning the first game. But with him needing only a draw to win, Gukesh faltered, letting his opponent bounce back strongly.
Praggnanandhaa won both games to defeat Gukesh. After the first rounds of the tie-breaker, both players remained tied on points. However, Gukesh made a late blunder, allowing Praggnanandhaa to come back and win the game.
