Editor’s Note: We present On The Moves, a new weekly column on chess which will appear every Tuesday from Amit Kamath where he will look at everything that happens on the battlefield of the 64 squares and away from it.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand proudly declared it an “Indian chess winter at Wijk!”
A day before that tweet, three members of India’s golden generation — D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi — had been tussling over the board to decide the fate of the Tata Steel chess tournament. It’s become an increasingly familiar sight at elite chess tournaments now, to have one — or more — of that trio fighting for top honours.
The Tata Steel chess tournament — which has been around for 87 years and is often referred to as the Wimbledon of Chess — came down to a two-horse race between Gukesh and Pragg, with Erigaisi playing a decisive factor.
“I should probably buy something for Arjun, yeah?” joked Praggnanandhaa after beating Gukesh to win the ultra-competitive tournament in Wijk aan Zee late on Sunday night.
Erigaisi was having the most wretched event of his recent career at Tata Steel. He did not win a single game in the first 11 rounds. And then, like he had just flicked a switch, his form turned around as he accounted for Nodirbek Abdusattarov in Round 12, thereby almost taking another member of the generation of prodigies out of contention for the title.
After enduring one of his worst tournaments in recent history, Arjun Erigaisi took down Nodirbek Abdusattarov and Gukesh in the final two rounds at Tata Steel Chess tournament. (PHOTO: Jurriaan Hoefsmit)
Then, just in case the world thought that the win was a fluke, in the final round, Erigaisi handed Gukesh his first defeat as world champion to leave the door wide open for Praggnanandhaa.
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The changing of guard in modern chess had never been more apparent than at the Tata Steel tournament. While players of the slightly older generation like Fabiano Caruana, Wei Yi and Anish Giri were also in the 14-player field, they were out of the race a long while back with only the younger lot keeping things exciting on the last day.
Gukesh in Round 12 of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. (PHOTO: Jurriaan Hoefsmit via Tata Steel chess)
So as 21-year-old Erigaisi defeated 18-year-old Gukesh (after accounting for 20-year-old Nodirbek in the previous round), 20-year-old Vincent Keymer beat 19-year-old Pragg after a six-hour struggle to set up a frantic two-man race past the finish line. With world no.1 Magnus Carlsen losing interest in classical chess and Hikaru Nakamura declaring himself a “streamer first”, expect this to be the new normal of elite chess in the coming years.
The winner on Sunday was decided in a tiebreak between Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, a fitting end to the tournament. There, Gukesh won the first game but Pragg fought back to force sudden death. In the third game of their tiebreak, Pragg emerged victorious.
World champion Gukesh reacts after losing the Tata Steel chess title to Praggnanandhaa in the rapid tiebreaks.
(Photo: Lennart Ootes via Tata Steel Chess)
“The last day was not typical of Pragg’s play (at Wijk aan Zee). 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… In the tiebreak, Pragg lost the first game before winning the next two to become the 2025 champion,” wrote Anand on X.
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“Given what he had been through, just hanging in there would have been an unimaginable effort.”
Tough nuts to crack
While Anand was talking about Pragg having survived a classical battle of over six hours against Keymer and then having to fight Gukesh in rapid tiebreak just 30 minutes later, he might as well have been talking about Pragg’s 2024.
The year gone by was a quiet year for Praggnanandhaa. While Erigaisi and Gukesh had breakout years — the latter becoming world champion while the former broke into the 2800 club — Pragg’s rating had stayed put. Which should not be looked at in alarm. He did start the year at 2743 and ended it at 2741. By any rational standards, that sort of stability at the top of the ratings charts should be celebrated. But not when one has peers like Gukesh (who added 52 ratings points in 2024) and Erigaisi (who rose by 63 points).
RB Ramesh, the man who has shaped Pragg in his formative years and is still part of his training team (besides Peter Svidler) said that Praggnanandhaa needed a tweak in mindset.
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“He’s playing for a win in every game now. Earlier, if it was an equal position with him playing with black pieces, he would be okay with a draw at times. But now, he’s playing more aggressively. That’s the difference. He’s winning more games now,” Ramesh told The Indian Express .
He talks about the effect that these three players have on each other.
“The last year has not been so special for Pragg. Also, it coincides with Arjun and Gukesh both having a great year. So, considering all that has happened in the last one year, this is a good start to 2025 for Pragg. It will give him a lot of confidence. It must have had some impact, at least psychologically, when you want to do well and see your competitors doing better. It’s not easy to handle that. But I think with this tournament, he has put that behind him,” adds Ramesh.
Not just Pragg’s turnaround, the other big takeaways from Wijk aan Zee include Erigaisi’s appetite for a fight despite his poor form and Gukesh’s hunger despite becoming world champion barely two months back.
The summer of Indian chess is here to stay.
