Tata Steel Chess: Praggnanandhaa downs Gukesh to win Masters title

India's Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, on Sunday, got the better of the reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju to clinch the prestigious Tata Steel Masters title in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.

Praggnanandhaa emerged victorious 2-1 in the tie breaks to become only the second Indian after former world champion Viswanathan Anand to win the title.

The 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa came from behind in the tie breaks to shock Gukesh. He had conceded the first blitz match with the black pieces but then won the second match on demand with the white pieces as the tie breaks headed into sudden death.

Praggnanandhaa had the white pieces in the sudden death, whereas Gukesh had 30 seconds extra on the clock to compensate for the disadvantage.

Gukesh, now known for his ambitious play, paid the price of turning down a draw by repetition in the sudden death as he blundered under time pressure.

Praggnanandhaa spotted the mistake immediately and eased to the title.

Earlier in the day, both Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh had lost their final round of matches.

While Gukesh went down to fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi to suffer his first loss since being crowned the world champion, Praggnanandhaa was handed a defeat by Vincent Keymer.

Both of them finished on 8.5 points out of a possible 13 as the tournament moved into tie breaks.

Among the other Indians in action in the event, Pentala Harikrishna finished seventh with 6.5 points, Erigaisi won his last two matches to finish tenth with 5.5 points.

The 18-year-old Luke Mendonca finished 13th with five points.

Vaishali finishes with a win

Meanwhile, Vaishali Rameshbabu ended her campaign at the 2025 Tata Steel Challengers with a win. She took down Erwin L'Ami with the white pieces in the final round.

Vaishali finished ninth in the standings with six points in 13 rounds.

The other Indian in the event, Divya Deshmukh finished 12th with 3.5 points.