The match between Tata Steel Masters in 2025 was played on February 2 at Vijayak Anan Zee (Netherlands). 19 -year -old Pragyananda defeated 18 -year -old Gukesh in a tiebreaker.
Pragyananda was born on August 10, 2005 in Chennai. His father's name is Ramesh Babu and mother's name is Nagalakshmi.
Pragyananda was inspired by his older sister R Vaishali to play chess. Pragyananda's sister Vaishali is also a grandmaster. In this successful journey of Pragyananda, his sister besides his parents has received full support. Pragyananda's mother lives with her during her match. If this is not possible, he sees his son's match on TV at home.
19 -year -old Pragyananda has also defeated Magnus Carlson of Norway at the age of 16. In 2022 he defeated the then world champion Carlson in the eighth round of the online rapid chess tournament Airthings Masters. He then defeated Carlson in a classical game during the third round of the Norway Chess Tournament at Stavenger 2024.
Pragyananda won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title in 2013. In 2015, the Indian Grandmast also won the Under-10 title. In 2023, he also made it to the Chess World Cup final. He became the second Indian to enter the Chess World Cup final after Vishwanathan Anand. (All Photo Credit: PTI)
