GM R Praggnanandhaa has won 2025 Superbet Chess Classic event, his first event in the Grand Chess Tour of 2025. This was also the first-ever GCT title in his career. Praggnanandhaa drew comfortably against GM Levon Aronian in his last classical game and then defeated Vachier-Lagrave in blitz playoffs to claim the title. He earns $77,667 (approx 66.50 lakh INR) and 10 GCT points.
The event which was taking place in Romania was the second leg of the 6-month long tour. The first one was 2025 Superbet Rapid and Blitz event that took place in Poland from 26-30 April which was won by Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev. R Praggnanandhaa remained on 3rd position in this event with 20.5 points.
In the Chess Classic event finale, the game went into the playoffs after Praggnanandhaa drew his last game, and both French participants won on demand. Therefore after the 9th game, it was a tie with 3 players on the first position having 5.5 points. It was only after three blitz games that followed that Praggnanandhaa won the title.
Praggnanandhaa’s game plan was, first and foremost, to play it safe. A draw would guarantee at least shared first—and in the French Defense Tarrasch Variation that transpired, the Indian grandmaster never took a risk. By move 18, Praggnanandhaa gained the bishop pair against bishop vs. knight, a “risk-free position” in his words that only he could win. Aronian held it, no problem, and a draw was decent news for the tournament leader, who would become the tournament winner.
Praggnanandhaa expressed his delight by posting a video on his x account after winning the tournament.
I have always dreamt of winning a GCT event, Winning the #SuperbetChessClassic is indeed dream come true. I'm grateful to my coach, team, family, and supporters for their unwavering belief in me. pic.twitter.com/BmuVt9lgyi
— Praggnanandhaa (@rpraggnachess) May 17, 2025
Praggnanandhaa set the record straight after last year. Then also, he had made it to the playoffs but lost all three of his games. He said at the award ceremony, “I didn’t do so well last time. I guess getting to rest a few hours before the tiebreak certainly helps,” reminding us that he had a relatively early draw with Aronian and then rested in his hotel room. He also thanked the large group of people supporting him: his family, his sponsor Adani Group, his second who was at the venue, GM Vaibhav Suri, and his trainer GM Ramesh R B. Praggnanandhaa gains nine rating points and is still number seven in the world.
The 2025 Superbet Romania Chess Classic is the second event on the 2025 Grand Chess Tour and runs from May 7 to 16 at the Grand Hotel Bucharest in Romania. It’s a 10-player round-robin with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting on move one. The prize fund is $350,000. The third event of the Grand Chess Tour will be the 2025 SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia, taking place on July 1-6.
At the 45th Chess Olympiad in September 2024, Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali were part of the Indian teams which went on to win gold medals in the Open section and Women’s section respectively. Earlier in February this year, GM Praggnanandhaa had become only the second Indian after Vishwanathan Anand to win the Tata Steel Chess Masters Tournament. He had won this tournament after defeating world champion D Gukesh in tiebreaks.
His next target would be to qualify for the candidates tournament 2026 and challenge D Gukesh in the world championship after winning the candidates tournament.
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