Praggnanandhaa says title will boost his confidence

R. Praggnanandhaa clinches Tata Steel Masters title in blitz play-offs against World champion Gukesh after a mixed 2024.

For a prodigious chess talent like R. Praggnanandhaa, the year 2024 wasn’t a great one by any yardstick. He started the year with a seventh-place finish in the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee, then finished a disappointing fifth in the FIDE Candidates tournament in Toronto, where D. Gukesh qualified for the World Championship final. His best performance came in the Norway Chess where he finished third. Of course, Pragg did well on board 2 to enable India win a historic gold medal in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest.

However, clinching the Tata Steel Masters title in Wijk aan Zee on Monday in the blitz play-offs against World champion Gukesh, would taste much sweeter for Praggnanandhaa after a mixed 2024.

“It (the title) was very important for my confidence. Quite a few World champions have played in the tournament. I feel proud to have won such a prestigious and historical championships. In the second half of 2024, I was not happy with the quality of my games. I trained a lot with my coach R. B. Ramesh for this. I am not thinking of the FIDE Candidates as it is far away. 2025 looks exciting,” said Pragg, on his arrival at the Chennai Airport on Tuesday.

On the play-offs against Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa said there was immense pressure. “It was full of tension. We lost to strong players [Pragg lost to Vincent Keymer while Gukesh lost to Arjun Erigaisi in the 13th and final round]. The tiebreaker was exciting. It was tiring as well I had played six-and-a-half hours of classical game and with 30 minutes of rest had to play the blitz playoffs. These were risky games as each had 10 seconds to make a move. I couldn’t think of anything,” he said.