Praggnanandhaa beats Gukesh to become Tata Steel champion

Bengaluru: It came down to two Indian co-leaders in the final round of the Tata Steel Masters – reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. As luck would have it, Gukesh’s first loss as world champion ended up arriving on the day he could least afford it. In Round 13 in Wijk Aan Zee, the 18-year-old world champion lost to fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi, and all Praggnanandhaa needed was a draw against Vincent Keymer to become champion. In a day of high drama and twists, Praggnanandhaa ended up losing to Keymer and an all-Indian tiebreak followed.

R Praggnanandhaa defeated D Gukesh in the tiebreaker to win the Tata Steel Masters title. (PTI)

In the two-game blitz play-off match of 3 minutes with a two-second increment per move, Gukesh started with the White pieces after a draw of lots. Praggnanandhaa blundered, lost his rook and was faced with the task of striking with White in the second game to keep the tie-break going. After seven hours of classical play, Praggnanandhaa must have been understandably spent.

He still managed to land a blow with White and the match entered ‘sudden death’ territory. Praggnanandhaa had the White pieces next and the Queens were off pretty early. Gukesh ended up over-extending in an equal endgame, squandered away a piece and sank back in his chair in despair.