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.

As the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025 heads into its final round, all eyes are on Indian prodigies D Gukesh a

Reigning World Chess champion D Gukesh was left devastated after his shocking title defeat to his compatriot R Praggnanandhaa at the Tata Steel Masters 2025 in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands on Monday, February 3.

Here are what the tiebreak rules state at Tata Steel Masters with Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa tied on 8.5 points with one game left (and with Nodirbek Abdusattarov one point behind).

Gukesh Dommaraju ascended to World No. 3 after drawing against reigning champion Wei Yi at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025. Rameshbabu Praggnanan

For Gukesh, this was the second year running when he tied for first position and lost the tiebreaker. In the previous edition last year, Gukesh had lost to Chinese Wei Yi

In the second game, Gukesh had a fine position but was gradually outplayed. In the third game, the decider, Praggnanandhaa was again on the defensive with his white pieces but then found some nice moves and Gukesh got overambitious in a position that would have been a draw otherwise.

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa overcame fatigue and nerves to secure his first Tata Steel Masters title by defeating world champion D Gukesh in a tiebreaker. This victory marks the first win for an Indian in the tournament since Viswanathan Anand in 2006,

In the tie-breaker between two Chennai players played in the blitz format, Pragg was the underdog because of exhaustion.

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