 "Viswanathan Anand shared a witty remark on R Praggnanandhaa after the latter's Tata Steel Chess Masters title triumph in Netherlands. Images: FIDE / PTI")
R Praggnanandhaa recently equalled legendary Viswanathan Anand by defeating world champion D Gukesh and winning the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters title in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Praggnanandhaa is the first Indian since Anand in 2006 to win the prestigious title.
Praggnanandhaa’s first major title win was hailed by former world champion Anand on ‘X’ as he congratulated the 19-year-old chess prodigy.
“Indian chess winter at Wijk! Congratulations to @rpraggnachess on winning his first @tatasteelchess event in Wijk aan Zee. The last day was not typical at all of his play. He played many brilliant games, but yesterday he got outplayed, then tenaciously defended a lost position. The tragedy for him was after getting close to the desired goal of a draw he blundered again.
Vishy Anand congratulates Praggnanandhaa
“@DGukesh had lost a while ago to Arjun, so we were in the unusual situation of both title contenders losing their games and going to the tiebreak. @Wacachess,” Anand posted.
“In the tiebreak, @rpraggnachess 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,” he added.
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View All‘Mere paas panch hai’: Anand’s funny message to Praggnanandhaa
Anand then made a witty remark using a viral phrase, reminding Praggnanandhaa that he had won five titles at the Tata Steel Chess tournament. Anand won the Tata Steel Chess titles in 1989, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2006.
“Mere pass panch hai .. IYKYK!,” the 55-year-old wrote along with a photo of Praggnanandhaa holding the trophy.
It was even-stevens between Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh after 13 rounds at the Tata Steel Chess tournament. While Gukesh drew two and lost one ( Against Arjun Erigaisi ) in his last three rounds, Praggnnandhaa beat Fabiano Caruana and Alexey Sarana in Rounds 11 and 12, before going down to Vincent Keymer in Round 13.
With Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh level on 8.5 points, play-off tiebreak games were played. Gukesh won the first game with white pieces before Praggnanandhaa did the same in the second game. There was nothing to separate the two once again, and the match went into sudden-death, where Gukesh blundered and Praggnanandhaa became the champion.