Praggnanandhaa emerges Tata Steel Masters Champion 2025 @ Wijk aan Zee
GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu emerged the 87th Tata Steel Masters 2025 Champion defeating world champion Gukesh Dommaraju (2-1) in the play-offs when both were tied at 8.5 points after the 13th and final round at Dorpshuis De Moriaan, Wijk aan Zee. Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov settled for the third place with 8.0 points after being held to a solid draw by GM Pentala Harikrishna.
In a huge turnaround, both the leaders, Pragg & Gukesh, lost their games today to GMs viz., Keymer & Erigaisi. In the ensuing tie-break play off Pragg overcame Gukesh 2-1 after the losing the first game. Quite a comeback for Pragg who had lost a seven hour long classical game to Keymer and came back to play blitz tie-breaks in 20 minutes. Having lost the first tie-break game, Pragg found himself in a must win situation. Win he did the next two games to take the Tata Steel title on tie-breaks. For the second year in a row Gukesh Dommaraju lost out on the title, after tying for the first place.
Earlier, GM Erigaisi Arjun came to form, wee bit late, as he brought down world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a Petroff Russian Game Paulsen Attack that lasted 31 moves. Incidentally, this happens to be the first loss to GM Gukesh Dommaraju after he became the world champion. With nothing to lose, it was all Erigaisi’s game today. Going for an early king-side attack saw white’s defenses in serious pressure, as black’s pile of two rooks and queen on the “h” file got menacing. Gukesh’s queen-side attack came a bit late, even as white queen got pinned 31…R8h2 and the world champion gave up.
In the upset of the day, Dutch Grandmaster Warmerdam Max defeated former Tata Steel Champion Fabiano Caruana. This 87th edition has become an eminently forgettable event for Fabi who stands to lose 19.9 Elos after ceding the World No. 3 spot to world champion Gukesh. In LIVE ratings the American now stands between two Indians viz., Gukesh and Erigaisi.
With a number of top ranked Grandmasters taking part in the German Bundesliga this weekend more ranking and rating changes are on the cards. Masters section games ending in draws were played out between GMs Fedoseev – Wei Yi, Abdusattorov – Harikrishna, Giri – van Foreest and Sarana – Mendonca respectively.
The Challengers section ended with two GMs sharing the top spot viz., Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Cze), Suleymanli Aydin (Aze). With GM Suleymanli scoring a quick final round win against International Master Irina Bulmaga (Rom) it was a win on demand situation for the top seed Czech GM Nguyen Thai Dai Van to reach 9.5 points. Hats off to GM Nguyen, for win he did coming of from not an easy position against GM Bok Benjamin (Ned) and made it to the Tata Steel Masters 2026, thanks to better tie-breaks.
The winner takes it all sudden-death blitz game that made GM Praggnanandhaa the champion at Tata Steel Masters 2025 Wijk aan Zee is here below:
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2717) – Gukesh Dommaraju (2615) 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 c5 5. Be2 Bd6 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 a6 10. Qxd8 Rxd8 11. Nbd2 Bd7 12. Rac1 Be7 13. Be2 Nd5 14. Bg3 Bb5 15. Bxb5 axb5 16. a3 Nc6 17. Rfd1 Rac8 18. Kf1 Nb6 19. Ne4 Nc4 20. Rxd8+ Rxd8 21. Rc2 Rd1+ 22. Ke2 Rb1 23. Nc3 Rxb2 24. Rxb2 Nxb2 25. Nxb5 Nc4 26. Kd3 Nxa3 27. Nxa3 Bxa3 28. Kc4 Na7 29. Bb8 Nc8 30. Kb5 f6 31. Nd2 Kf7 32. Nc4 Bf8 33. Na5 Bd6 34. Bxd6 Nxd6+ 35. Kb6 Ne4 36. f3 Nc3 37. Kxb7 e5 38. Kc6 Nd1 39. Nc4 Ke6 40. e4 g6 41. Kc5 f5 42. Kb4 fxe4 43. fxe4 Nf2 44. Nd2 Kd6 45. Nc4+ Ke6 46. Nd2 Kf6 47. Kc4 Ng4 48. Nf1 Nf2 49. Kd5 Nd3 50. Ne3 Nf4+ 51. Kd6 Nd3 52. Ng4+ Kg5 53. Nxe5 Kf4 54. Nxd3+ Kxe4 55. Nf2+ Ke3 56. Ng4+ Kf4 57. Nf6 h5 58. Ke6 h4 59. Kf7 Kf5 60. Kg7 g5 61. h3 Kf4 62. Kg6 1-0 (sudden-death blitz game)
Gukesh Dommaraju (2777) – Erigaisi Arjun (2801) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nc4 Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 6. Ne3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Be6 8. g3 Nc6 9. Bg2 Qd7 10. O-O O-O-O 11. b4 d5 12. b5 Na5 13. d4 Bh3 14. Bxh3 Qxh3 15. Qf3 h5 16. Nexd5 h4 17. Nxf6 gxf6 18. Rd1 hxg3 19. hxg3 Nc4 20. Bf4 Bh6 21. Bxh6 Rxh6 22. Qg2 Qh5 23. Rab1 Rdh8 24. Rb4 Na3 25. b6 cxb6 26. Ra4 Nb5 27. Rd3 Nxc3 28. Rxc3+ Kd8 29. f3 Qb5 30. Rxa7 Rh1+ 31. Kf2 R8h2 0-1
Masters (Final Placings): 1-2 Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Gukesh Dommaraju (both India) 8.5, 3 Abdusattorov Nodirbek (Uzb) 8.0, 4 Fedoseev Vladimir (Slo) 7.5, 5-6 Wei Yi (Chn), Anish Giri (Ned) 7.0, 7 Harikrishna Pentala (Ind) 6.5, 8-9 Keymer Vincent (Ger), Caruana Fabiano (USA) 6.0, 10-12 Erigaisi Arjun (Ind), van Foreest Jorden (Ned), Sarana Alexey (Srb) 5.5, 13 Mendonca Leon Luke (Ind) 5.0, 14 Warmerdam Max (Ned) 4.5
Challengers (Final Placings): 1-2 Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Cze), Suleymanli Aydin (Aze) 9.5, 3 L’Ami Erwin (Ned) 8.5, 4-5 Yakkuboev Nodirbek (Uze), Bok Benjamin (Ned) 8.0, 6-8 Gurel Ediz (Tur), Svane Frederik (Ger), Nogerbek Kazybek (Kaz) 7.5, 9 Vaishali Rameshbabu (Ind) 6.0, 10-11 Lu Miaoyi (Chn), Pijpers Arthur (Ned) 5.5, 12-13 Divya Deshmukh (Ind), Oro Faustino (Arg) 3.5, 14 Bulmaga Irina (Rom) 1.0
Masters (Round 13 results): Gukesh Dommaraju (8.5) lost to Erigaisi Arjun (5.5), Sarana Alexey (5.5) drew with Mendonca Leon Luke (5.0), Caruana Fabiano (6.0) lost to Warmerdam Max (4.5), Fedoseev Vladimir (7.5) drew with Wei Yi (7.0), Abdusattorov Nodirbek (8.0) drew with Harikrishna Pentala (6.5), Keymer Vincent (6.0) beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (8.5), Giri Anish (7.0) drew with van Foreest Jorden (5.5).
Challengers (Round 13 results): Lu Miaoyi (5.5) lost to Yakubboev Nodirbek (8.0), Pijpers Arthur (5.5) drew with Divya Deshmukh (3.5), Bulmaga Irina (1.0) lost to Suleymanli Aydin (9.5), Svane Frederik (7.5) drew with Gurel Ediz (7.5), Vaishali Rameshbabu (6.0) beat L’Ami Erwin (8.5), Bok Benjamin (8.0) lost to Nguyen Thai Dai Van (9.5), Nogerbek Kazybek (7.5) beat Oro Faustino (3.5).
Picture Courtesy: Tata Steel Chess
Official Site: https://tatasteelchess.com/en
