
Picture Credit: X
19-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa went on to defeat world champion D Gukesh in a nail-biting tie-breaker to win the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. After the win, Praggnanandhaa was acknowledged by none other than Indian Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand. While praising Praggnanandhaa for his magnificent achievement, Vishwanathan also pointed out his own success in a cheeky way via post on X.
Vishwanathan Anand shared a post on his X account where he wrote, “Mere pass panch hai .. IYKYK!” indicating his five TATA Steel Chess titles. Notably, Anand won the prestigious tournament in 1989, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2006, and also went on to share three titles. From 2018, the joint leaders started fighting out in a tie-breaker to decide the ultimate winner.
Unimaginable effort: Vishwanathan Anand heaps praise on Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa for winning TATA Steel Masters title
Vishwanathan also shared a couple of posts on his X account where he praised Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa for his magnificent effort to overcome D Gukesh in a tie-breaker and win the TATA Steel Masters title in 2025. "In the tiebreak, Praggnanandhaa lost the first game before winning the next two to become the 2025 champion. Given what he had been through, just hanging in there would have been an unimaginable effort," Vishwanthan wrote on his X post.
“Gukesh also ended his tournament with a loss which was not representative of his play in the event and for the second year in a row, he lost the tiebreak. Nonetheless, this performance right after winning the world title confirms he is as hungry as ever!" Vishwanathan Anand further said.
D Gukesh and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa earlier tied on 8.5 points each at the end of the 13th and final round which forced a tie-breaker. After that, Praggnanandhaa went on to defeat Gukesh 2-1 in the tie breaker to get his hands on the TATA Steel Masters title for the first time