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Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa edged out world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a nail-biting tiebreaker to decide the winner of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025, and legendary Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand was all praise for the duo. However, Anand couldn’t help himself putting in a cheeky response, reminding everyone of his own achievements as well. While Anand gave due appreciation to 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa and 18-year-old Gukesh, as the former came from behind to win the tiebreaker 2-1, he also put in a humorous tweet about his own success at the tournament.
“Mere paas panch hai… IYKYK (I have five, if you know you know),” posted Viswanathan Anand on X.
On the occasion of two Indian grandmasters fighting it out for the Tata Steel Chess tournament, it was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that Anand himself has won five titles at the tournament.
Mere pass panch hai .. IYKYK! pic.twitter.com/nhf97N9WIL
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) February 3, 2025
Anand won the Tata Steel Chess tournament in 1989, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2006, sharing three of them. From 2018 onwards, joint-leaders fought it out in a tiebreaker to decide a sole winner.
Anand’s five titles is the second-most of any chess player ever, only behind Magnus Carlsen’s eight.
Anand also congratulated Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh.
“In the tiebreak, Praggnanandhaa lost the first game before winning the next two to become the 2025 champion. Given what he had been through, just hanging in there would have been an unimaginable effort,” Anand stated of the champion.
“Gukesh also ended his tournament with a loss which was not representative of his play in the event and for the second year in a row, he lost the tiebreak. Nonetheless, this performance right after winning the world title confirms he is as hungry as ever!” tweeted Anand on Gukesh.
Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh had earlier tied on 8.5 points each at the end of the 13th and final round, forcing a tiebreaker.
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