New Delhi: Legendary Viswanathan Anand lauded Indian Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh for their impressive show at the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2025 in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Praggnanandhaa defeated Gukesh in a thrilling tiebreak to win his maiden Tata Steel Chess title and became the first Indian since Anand to win the prestigious tournament.
Anand was the last Indian to win the Tata Steel Chess title in 2006. It was an all-Indian final in Wijk aan Zee as Praggnanandhaa locked horns with reigning world champion Gukesh after both finished as the joint leaders in the 14-player round-robin event after the end of 13 classical rounds. Both Pragg and Gukesh lost their last classical games on Sunday to finish with 8.5 points each, forcing three games of blitz tiebreakers in the final.
While Pragg lost to Germany’s Vincent Keymer in Round 13, Gukesh lost his first classical game as the reigning world champion when he lost against fellow Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi in 31 moves in the 13th round. Gukesh drew the first blood in the tie-breaker by winning the first game with white pieces. He only needed a draw in the second game to take the crown.
However, Pragg staged a brilliant fightback in the second game by claiming it before making it two wins in a row to win the tie-breaker and clinch the biggest title of his career so far. Anand took to X to share a long tweet, lauding Pragg and Gukesh for putting on a show at the Tata Steel Chess and also cheekily reminding the fans that he has won the title five times during his playing days. “Mere pass panch hai .. IYKYK,” he wrote in a tweet.
“Indian chess winter at Wijk! Congratulations to @rpraggnachess on winning his first @tatasteelchess
event in Wijk aan Zee. The last day was not typical at all of his play. He played many brilliant games, but yesterday he got outplayed, then tenaciously defended a lost position. The tragedy for him was after getting close to the desired goal of a draw he blundered again. @DGukesh had lost a while ago to Arjun, so we were in the unusual situation of both title contenders losing their games and going to the tiebreak,” Anand wrote in a tweet.
“In the tiebreak, @rpraggnachess lost the first game before winning the next two to become the 2025 champion. Given what he had been through, just hanging in there would have been an unimaginable effort,” he added.
Indian chess winter at Wijk!
Congratulations to @rpraggnachess on winning his first @tatasteelchess event in Wijk aan Zee. The last day was not typical at all of his play. He played many brilliant games, but yesterday he got outplayed, then tenaciously defended a lost position.…— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) February 3, 2025
Gukesh is hungry as ever: Anand praises world champion
Though the five-time world champion sympathised with Gukesh for going down in another tie-breaker in the Tata Steel Chess Masters for the second year in a row, he lauded the reigning world champion for being as hungry as ever in his desire to win more titles. Gukesh defeated China’s Ding Liren last year to become the youngest world champion in the history of chess at 18.
The legendary Viswanathan Anand lauded R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh for their brilliant show at the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2025 and came up with a light-hearted take on Pragg’s victory. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
