R Praggnanandhaa Clinches 'Tata Steel Chess Masters 2025' Title, Defeats World Champion D Gukesh in Tiebreaker.
Sports
On February 2, 2025, Indian Chess Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa triumphed in the 'Tata Steel Chess Masters 2025' by defeating the 2024 World Chess Champion, D Gukesh, in a tiebreaker at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. With this remarkable victory, Praggnanandhaa became the first Indian chess player since Viswanathan Anand in 2006 to claim the prestigious Tata Steel Masters title.
- Praggnanandhaa had previously reached a career-high World Ranking of 8 in July 2024 and was a runner-up in the 2023 Chess World Cup, where he lost to Magnus Carlsen in the final.
- The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025, held from January 17 to February 2 in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, was the 87th edition of the prestigious event, known as the "Wimbledon of Chess," with past winners including legends like Anand and Carlsen.
- The tournament, the first elite chess event of the year, featured 5 of the 14 participants ranked in the top 10 globally and showcased chess legends in a classical 14-player round-robin format across the Masters and Challengers categories.
Main Point :- (i) R Praggnanandhaa (ranked 14th in the world) performed admirably with six wins, five draws, and two losses, including a defeat to Germany's Vincent Keymer in the final round.
(ii) Newly crowned World Chess Champion 2024, D Gukesh, faced his first loss as World Champion, falling to Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi in 31 moves.
(iii) The tournament was concluded with a blitz tiebreaker, where each player competed in two fast-paced games, resulting in a 1-1 draw.
____________________________
