Newly-crowned Tata Steel Chess winner R Praggnanandhaa was given a warm reception upon his return home, as hundreds of fans, along with officials from the Tamil Nadu government and the national federation gathered to receive him at the airport here on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old from Chennai made history on Sunday by defeating reigning World Champion and compatriot D Gukesh to claim his maiden Tata Steel Chess tournament crown, marking the biggest win of his career so far.
“I feel very happy to win this tournament, and it is very nice to see that two Indians, two Tamil Nadu people played in the tie-break in the end. We both played well. Huge congrats to him (D Gukesh) as well, he played really well,” he said.
Both Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh finished with 8.5 points after losing their 13th-round games, but Praggnanandhaa showed remarkable mental resilience to triumph 2-1 in the tie-breaker during the 87th edition of the prestigious event in Wijk Aan Zee.
Praggnanandhaa became the first Indian after Viswanathan Anand to win the Tata Steel Chess title.
Anand, a three-time winner (2003, 2004, and 2006) when the event was known as the Corus Chess Tournament, had also shared the honours twice (1989 and 1998) during its earlier form as the Hoogovens Tournament.
Praggnanandhaa described the final day as “crazy and long” after he battled exhaustion and nerves to outwit Gukesh in a thrilling tie-breaker.
He demonstrated his resilience by recovering from an early blunder that had cost him the opening game of the tie-breaker. Facing a must-win situation, Praggnanandhaa opted for a Trompowsky opening and managed to push the match into sudden death.
As a draw seemed imminent in sudden death, Gukesh lost control, and Praggnanandhaa capitalised on the mistake to clinch his maiden title.
Praggnanandhaa will be next competing at the Prague Masters to be held from February 25 to March 7.