Aravindh Chithambaram wins Prague Masters 2025, ahead of established names including R Praggnanandhaa

Indian chess appears to have discovered another star with 25-year-old Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram winning the Prague Masters event, finishing ahead of established names including compatriot R Praggnanandhaa. Aravindh clinched the first major title of his career after holding Turkey’s Ediz Gurel to a stalemate to finish the nine-round competition with six points.

Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri’s victory over Praggnanandhaa in the final round confirmed Aravindh’s outright victory in the seventh edition of the tournament. Aravindh finished an entire point ahead of the trio of Praggnanandhaa, Giri and Chinese GM Wei Yi – who were tied second with five points. Gurel finished third with 4.5 points.

Aravindh finishes unbeaten in Prague

Aravindh, ranked 14th in the latest chess ratings, remained undefeated throughout the Masters event, finishing with three wins and six draws. He defeated Giri as well as Wei, as well as German GM Vincent Keymer – who had recently triumphed in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event in Weissenhaus.

Aravindh and Praggnanandhaa had played out a 59-move stalemate in the fifth round in which the latter played with white pieces.

Praggnanandhaa, who had recently defeated reigning world champion D Gukesh to win the prestigious Tata Steel Chess tournament last month, was also unbeaten right up until his defeat against Giri on Friday. He finished with two wins – against Keymer and Thai Nguyen – and six draws besides the solitary defeat.

Aravindh, who hails from Madurai, had previously won the Chennai Grand Masters tournament in November ahead of leading names such as Arjun Erigaisi, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Vidit Gujrathi.

After finishing tied for the first position with Erigaisi and Aronian, Aravindh had defeated the latter in the tie-breaks to be declared champion.