TATA Steel Masters: Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa showcased remarkable resilience and composure to defeat world champion D. Gukesh 2-1 in a dramatic tiebreaker, securing the Tata Steel Masters Chess Tournament title on Sunday. The final round of the tournament was filled with intense moments, as both teenage prodigies finished with 8.5 points each after 13 rounds, setting the stage for an electrifying showdown.
Interestingly, both Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh suffered surprising defeats in their final round matches. Gukesh was outplayed by fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi, while Praggnanandhaa lost to Germany’s Vincent Keymer. Despite these setbacks, they remained tied at the top of the leaderboard, pushing the tournament into a tiebreaker.
In the first game of the tiebreaker, Praggnanandhaa faced the Benoni Defense with reversed colors. He appeared to have equalized comfortably in the middlegame, but a critical blunder cost him a full rook, allowing Gukesh to snatch victory. With the pressure mounting in the second game, Praggnanandhaa adopted the Trompowsky Attack in a must-win situation. Although Gukesh held a slight advantage with the black pieces, Praggnanandhaa’s tactical brilliance and determination helped him secure a crucial win to level the score.
The deciding game of the tiebreaker saw Praggnanandhaa maintain his momentum and composure. He capitalized on key positions and outmaneuvered Gukesh, ultimately clinching the victory and the Tata Steel Masters title.
However, by just keeping his position together, Praggnanandhaa patiently waited and capitalised on an unforced error from his opponent to first knock down a pawn and then his technical abilities were enough to see the normal blitz games through with a 1-1 score.
This took the match into sudden-death, where Praggnanandhaa drew white and once again Gukesh was better with some imaginative play on the queen side that netted him a pawn.
The sudden-death had a time control of two minutes and thirty seconds for white against three for black but that did not deter Praggnanandhaa from trying to defend an inferior endgame.
Just while the position looked completely drawn and another game was on the cards, Gukesh lost complete control in the battle of nerves and first lost a pawn then his last remaining knight.
Praggnanandhaa showed perfect technique to take the full point and his maiden victory at the Masters.
For Gukesh, this was the second year running when he tied for first position and lost the tiebreaker. In the previous edition last year, Gukesh had lost to Chinese Wei Yi.
Inputs from PTI