'Most stressful day': How Praggnanandhaa won the Tata Steel Chess Masters title

It worked out for him then as he was crowned the youngest world chess champion. It did not on Sunday at the 2025 Tata Steel Masters – his first competition since winning the world title.

Playing with the black pieces against compatriot Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in a tie-break sudden death, Gukesh turned down a three-fold repetition for a draw in the 46^th move.

He blundered his knight – the final minor piece on the board – five moves later. Praggnanandhaa pounced on the opportunity and converted, forcing a resignation out of his opponent after 62 moves.

Had Gukesh repeated earlier, the sudden death would have entered a second round. Instead, Praggnanandhaa was crowned the 2025 Tata Steel Masters Champion.

As Gukesh sunk back in his chair, realising the error he had just made, Praggnanandhaa shook hands with his opponent and the arbiter before walking off the board.

There was no display of emotions as he became only the second Indian to win the prestigious title, also known as the ‘Wimbledon of Chess’, in Wijk aan Zee.

“I did not expect to win this game,” a relieved Praggnanandhaa told Tata Steel Chess in an interview moments after the win. “I was repeating at some point and then he played on.

“Somehow things went my way,” he added.

However, before the sudden death, things were far from what Praggnanandhaa would have hoped for on the final day of play.

As Gukesh quickly resigned against compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in the final round, the 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa had a simple equation – draw his game against Vincent Keymer and walk home with the title stress-free.

But, it wasn’t all that easy. For the starters, by the time he realised he just needed a draw against Keymer – one of Gukesh’s seconds at the World Championships last year – he was already in a bad position.

Praggnanandhaa did grind out the game for three hours, hoping for a miraculous turnaround. Keymer, however, was methodical in his approach to win the match following a six-hour-long battle.

“I was in such a difficult position that I can’t really do much other than sit and defend,” Praggnanandhaa reflected after his win. “I don’t think practically I had any chance in that position.

“It was a very difficult game and I don’t think I played anywhere near the level I was playing here,” he added.

The loss meant that both Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh finished with 8.5 points out of a possible 13 in the tournament, bringing tie breaks into the equation.

Praggnanandhaa spent the next 30 minutes after his match against Keymer, trying to close his eyes and relax with his mother Nagalakshmi, and sister Vaishali present at the venue.

However, it did not seem to have worked as he blundered his rook in the first tiebreak and surrendered the game in a routine blitz time scramble.

With a win on demand required, he bounced back to win the second match of the tiebreak and forced a sudden death.

“This was the most stressful day [of my career],” quipped Praggnanandhaa.

It was also, undoubtedly, the biggest title win of his career.

Praggnanandhaa started off strongly in the tournament, winning three of his first four matches and drawing the other. He remained unbeaten in the competition until the ninth round, where Dutch Grandmaster and home favourite Anish Giri got the better of him.

The Indian, however, fought back to win his next three matches to head into the final round with the joint lead along with Gukesh.

The fact that Erigaisi inflicted irreversible damage on Gukesh in the tournament, held Praggnanandhaa in good stead.

“I think I should probably buy something for Arjun [Erigaisi],” he said with a laugh.

The late Bent Larsen, a Dutch Grandmaster known for his unorthodox play in the 1960s, had famously said, “Normal people have to see Naples before they die, but a chess player has to win Wijk aan Zee first.”

This phrase echoes today in the playing hall of the prestigious tournament and Praggnanandhaa etched his name in the annals of chess history, winning the 87^th edition of the tournament.

As for Gukesh, it was a case of so close yet so far, finishing runner-up for a second consecutive year on tie breaks.

Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov finished third with eight points – half a point behind the two Indians.

The chess world has long been awaiting the rise of a new generation of players and with two teenagers and a 20-year-old on the podium, Wijk aan Zee might have well rung in a new era.