 "Praggnanandhaa achieves another historic feat after winning UzChess Cup Masters, collecting third title of year")
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has been having quite the stellar run so far in 2025, having won the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Netherlands in February as well as Superbet Chess Classic Romania last month. On Friday, ‘Pragg’ added another feat to the collection – winning the UzChess Cup Masters 2025 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
And what makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that the 19-year-old triumphed over some of the leading players in the world, including compatriots Arjun Erigaisi and Aravindh Chithambaram as well as home favourites Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov. Also part of the solid lineup were Grandmasters Ian Nepomniachtchi, Richard Rapport and Parham Maghsoodloo.
Praggnanandhaa had finished level on 5.5 points with Javokhir and Nodirbek, defeating both Uzbekistani GMs along with Arjun, who finished fourth with 5 points. All three players later finished level on two points in the first round of blitz tie-breaks.
Praggnanandhaa, however, sneaked ahead in the second round of tie-breaks, where he finished with 1.5 points compared to 1 for Javokhir and 0.5 for Nodirbek.
“Wrapped up the #UzChessCup Masters with a win in the final round and wins in tie breaks. Tiebreaks were crazy indeed,” Praggnanandhaa wrote in a post on X after his victory in Tashkent.
“Grateful for all the support that I have received so far. Onto my next challenge to Croatia,” he added, referring to the SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz tournament in Zagreb which is part of the Grand Chess Tour and gets underway on 2 July.
Wrapped up the #UzChessCup Masters with a win in the final round and wins in tie breaks. Tiebreaks were crazy indeed.
— Praggnanandhaa (@rpraggnachess) June 27, 2025
Grateful for all the support that I have received so far.
Onto my next challenge to Croatia. pic.twitter.com/Vrlj8Dgjus
Praggnanandhaa overtakes Gukesh and Arjun
The joy of winning his third title of the year was made even sweeter by the fact that Praggnanandhaa has now surpassed both Gukesh and Arjun to become the top-ranked Indian on the latest live ratings. Praggnanandhaa has a live rating of 2778.3, placing him at the fourth spot ahead of reigning world champion Gukesh (2776.6) and Arjun (2775.7).
The top three spots are occupied by Norwegian chess icon Magnus Carlsen (2839.2) as well as veteran American GMs Hikaru Nakamura (2807) and Fabiano Caruna (2784.2).
The same, however, cannot be said of the FIDE ratings, where Arjun and Gukesh remain the only Indians inside the top five at third and fifth respectively, with Praggnanandhaa the third Indian inside the top-10 at seventh.
While the FIDE ratings are updated every month, the Live ratings are updated in real time, typically within a minute after the conclusion of a game.
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