Bengaluru: It camee down to two Indian co-leaders in the final round of the tata steel masters-reigning world champion gukesh dommaraju and pragganandhaa rameshbabu. As luck would have it, gukesh’s first loss as world champion ended up Arriving on the day he could least Aford it. In Round 13 in Wijk Aan Zee, The 18-ELD World Champion Lost to Fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi, and all Pragnanandhaa Needed was a Draw Against Vincent Keymer to Best Champion. In a day of high drama and twists, pragnanandhaa ended up losing to keymer and an all-India tiebreak followed.
In the two-game blitz play-off match of 3 minutes with a two-second increase per move, gukesh started with the white pieces after a drower a drive of lots. Pragnanandhaa Blundred, Lost His Rook and Was Facted With the Task of Striking with White in the second game to keep the tie-break going. After Seven hours of Classical Play, Pragnanandhaa must have been underStandably Spent. He Still Managed to Land a Blow With White and the Match Entred ‘Sudden Death’ territory. Pragnanandhaa Had the White Pieces Next and The Queens WERE OFF PRETTY EARLY. Gukesh Ended Up Over-Extanding in an Equal Endgame, Squandered Away a Piece and Sank Back in His Chair in Despair. It was all over for the world champion and Pragnanandhaa Walked Away with the biggest tournament win of his career so far in a fitting final.
Praggnanandhaa became the first Indian after five-time world champion Viswanathan anand to win the tata steel masters title in Wijk Aan Zee. Anand has won the tournament five times, the first time being in 1989. It’s after 19 years that an Indian has again won the title. Pragnanandhaa, who started the tournament ranked 14 in the world, moved up to world no 7 in the live ratings.
Pragnanandhaa is coming off a raather quiet year. In a year when gukesh turned world champion and arjun rocketed up the rankings and put up a steellar show at the olympiad to win an individual gold, pragnanandhaa didnian Board. Some of it could be down to the 19-year-old choosing to play a bit too solid in the Major elite events. In the dutch town on the north sea coast over the past two weeks thought, Pragnanandhaa Seemed to have found his Groove after a white and entred Sunday’s Final Round for Place for FIRST PALCE SHIC SH
Arjun, Who Had a Tough Outing, Found Redemption in the Fag End, Taking Down Two of the Tournament’s Strongest Players – Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Gukesh on Successive Days, GIVINGHANAND Chance to win the tournament outright.
Interestingly, Gukesh came pretty close to winning the title last year as well. He loss to wei yi in the tiebreaks then. Until the Final Round this time, Gukesh Had an incredible tournament, moving up to world no 3 in the live ratings. Arjun chose to play the petroff and went on to mount an assault on white’s king. Gukesh, who usually manages to find the Resources to Wriggle out of Sticky Situations on the Board, Sat there shaking his head in disappointment before resigning after 31 moves.
Pentala Harikrishna, Who also served on Gukesh’s Team for the World Championship, helpful Be Claimed only by an indian. The 14-Player Masters Section Featured five of the world’s top ten players, and, in a sign of the times, it was two wases two Indians fighting to take home the title.
