The Indian juggernaut in international chess remained unstoppable as Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa fought through exhaustion and nerves to defeat world champion D Gukesh in a clash of compatriots to cl

D Gukesh was devastated after his tie-breaker defeat to R Praggnanandhaa at the Tata Chess Masters, in Wijk aan Zee.

In the tie-breaker between two Chennai players played in the blitz format, Pragg was the underdog because of exhaustion.

Praggnanandhaa’s remarkable comeback in the tiebreaker showcased his resilience and strategic prowess. After losing the first blitz match with the black pieces, he bounced back to claim victory in the second match with white, forcing a sudden death scenario.

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

The World Champion D Gukesh faced a tough contest against Grandmaster R Pragnanandhaa in the Tata Steel Masters 2025 Chess final held at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The event was between two Indian stars, which ended with same points after 13 rounds. Pragnanandhaa needed a draw to clinch the title, which he successfully did.

Despite the loss, Praggnanandhaa will play tie-break games of shorter duration against Gukesh after the two ended with identical 8.5 points each. The other contender Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan was denied the full point by P Harikrishna, who played a hard fought draw.

D Gukesh suffered his first defeat since being crowned the youngest world champion in chess history in December, with compatriot Arjun Erigaisi outsmarting him in 31 moves to sign off from the Tata Steel Chess tournament with back-to-back wins.

The bespectacled 19-year-old from Chennai, a city that has become the cradle of Indian chess, came from behind to upstage the 18-year-old world number three 2-1 in the tiebreaker of the event's 87th edition.

Gukesh Dommaraju ascended to World No. 3 after drawing against reigning champion Wei Yi at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025. Rameshbabu Praggnanan

After losses in Round 13, D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa played out a tie-breaker in the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters, with the former coming good in sudden-death to win.