For Gukesh, this was the second year running that he tied for first place and lost the tiebreaker. In the previous edition, last year, he lost to Chinese Wei Yi. It was not a good day at the office for Gukesh as he lost his first game to Olympiad teammate Arjun Erigaisi before succumbing against Pragg.

There was huge drama typical of two young players looking to win each and every tiebreak game after they ended the 13th and final round of the tournament tied for the top spot with 8.5 points each.

GM R. Praggnanandhaa held his fort against reining World Champion and compatriot D. Gukesh for a come-from-behind win in the tiebreaks to claim the Tata Steel Masters 2025 in Wijk aan Zee on Sunday.

D Gukesh suffered his first defeat since being crowned the youngest world champion in chess history in December, with compatriot Arjun Erigaisi outsmarting him in 31 moves to sign off from the Tata Steel Chess tournament with back-to-back wins.

After losses in Round 13, D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa played out a tie-breaker in the 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters, with the former coming good in sudden-death to win.

Gukesh’s first loss as world champion was followed by Pragg’s defeat, leaving both tied at the top. Pragg won the tiebreaker against Gukesh to clinch title

Praggnanandhaa becomes only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to win the Tata Steel Chess Masters title.

Leaders Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh have 8.5 points each at the end of the 12th and penultimate round of Tata Steel Masters in the Netherlands on Saturday.