Three-time World Blitz champion Russian Grand Master Alexzander Grischuk jokingly revealed that his credit for winning Tata Steel Blitz chess champion should go to his ‘secret’ coach Maxim Vachier Lagrave, the French Grand master who won Tata Steel Open chess competition. 

While receiving the champion’s trophy from legendary Viswanathan Anand at the closing ceremony of the competition held at the National Library on Saturday, Grischuk laughingly stated, "I should thank my 'secret coach' here Maxim for winning the title. I played the blitz format game with him before the beginning of the format and he destroyed me there, helping me deliver my best in the competition.” Anand also had praise for the participants commenting, “Everybody had tremendous fighting spirit. I would like to mention especially Maxim’s name for delivering a consistent performance throughout the competition.” 

However, Grischuk was offered a great fight by current World Cup runner-up Praggnanandhaa. At the end of 18 rounds, it was Alexander Grischuk who had the last laugh with 12 points beating his nearest competitors by merely 1 point. Nodirbek Abdusattorov finishes second with 11 points while 

R Praggnanandhaa once again finished as best-performing Indian with third place.