The new Julius Baer Challengers Chess that kicked off on April 8 2021 gave India a goosebump as its young prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won the maiden event title with eight wins in a row.
Praggnanandhaa isn’t a new name for India or even the chess world to get excited over. The 15 year old prodigy from Chennai has already been rated as “another Anand in the making” by the chess kingdom.
With his initial victory in the Challengers chess, Praggnanandhaa won a place in the prestigious Meltwater Champions Chess Tour series, rubbing shoulders with the top-rated master players.
Early Stint with Chess
The young prodigy has proved his mettle since the age of three. Brother to Vaishali.R, who became an international master at the age of 15, Praggnanandhaa grew up combating with his sister on the board. The stint with chess took off more as a distraction for the siblings than a passion. Being a staunch South Indian middle-class family, the parents Rameshbabu and Nagalakshmi did not want their children to get addicted to television. Rameshbabu, an ardent fan of chess, came up with an easy solution: to teach the older one the board game. Vaishali was enrolled in a chess coaching class in Chennai. The 7-year-old loved it and began bringing her exemplary skills to chess events and competitions within the state and later at the national levels.
Praggnanandhaa got lured into the game as well, soon beginning to beat his sister at her own games. At the age of five, India’s youngest prodigy started appearing for tournaments. And by 7, he became the Under-8 World champion in chess.
The quiet, shy boy with few words, Pragg – as he’s called – is a formidable opponent ‘on board’ as he smoothly juggles with complex and aggressive moves and strategies to throw his rivals off their feet. India’s own chess champion Vishwanathan Anand spoke highly of the young prodigy’s dedication to the game and his mastermind that devises “imaginative middlegame play with patient endgame skills”.
The Laurels & Crowns
At 10, Praggnanandhaa went on to become the youngest International Master (IM) in history. Two years later, at the age of 12, the young Indian made history as the second-youngest player ever and the youngest Indian to become GM. His record was subsequently broken by compatriot and native Chennaiite D Gukesh. In 2019, the 14 year old won the London Chess Classic FIDE Open, his third title. Earlier he had won the titles in the Xtracon Open and the World U-18 Chess Championship.
In 2020, the teenager stunned chess fans as he left his mark in the first ever Fide Online Chess Olympiad. He helped the Indian team defeat China in the final preliminary round. His victory helped India to secure the top spot with 17 points and 39.5 board points, in Pool A and become the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Pragg’s victory in London fixed his crown in the 2600 club, and the one at the Chess Olympiad etched his name deeper into the marbles of the chess kingdom. Pragg was rated the best performer of the Olympiad (for board 5 and 6) and won all the five games he played. Today the teenager is acclaimed to be one of the brightest emerging stars in international chess.
Being Praggnanandhaa
As his coach Ramesh pointed out, Praggnanandhaa is a player who doesn’t crumble under defeat. Though the setbacks disappoint, he bounces back with more intensity and strength.
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With his calm demeanour and inner strength he often resembles Vishy Anand who also shares the same Chennai roots.
Post his Challengers Chess victory, his group-mentor in the series and one of the two anchors Vladimir kramnik opined that the 15 year old reminds him of the five-time world Champion Anand. Calling him a “reincarnation” of the Indian champion, Kramnik remarked that his style, very much like that of Anand is “light, sharp and quick, with a universal, and refined sense of dynamics and feeling of the position”. Kramnik had his first event with Vishy Anand when the latter was around the same age as Praggnanandhaa now.
The Julius Baer Challenger Chess
In the online Challenger’s chess, Praggnanandhaa won the title for the first event the Polgar Challenge with a round to spare. The player secured the prize amount of $3,000. The victory also gained him his golden pass to the prestigious Meltwater Champions Chess Tour in April 2021.
Praggnanandhaa, with 15.5 points, ensured 14 victories in the event. He drew three times and lost twice during the four-day online event. According to the overall score by the team members, Team Polgar defeated Team Kramnik, which includes Pragnanandhaa with a score of 96.5-88.
On the final day, with four rounds scheduled and a half-point lead, Praggnanandhaa won 3.5 points following his stunning and tough game with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbek). In the earlier rounds, he had defeated Leon Mendonca, Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kazakhstan) and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iran).
Conclusion
Chess legend Judit Polgar, who’s co-mentoring with Vladimir Kramnik at the helm of the Challenger’s chess remarked that the young prodigy’s win was "fully deserved and extremely convincing".
For every young chess player in the making, there is a lesson of resolution, grit and patience to learn from young Praggnanandhaa. His dedication to chess is exemplary. His coach RB Ramesh once recollected how the young boy would watch 30 chess videos every day while his peers often gave excuses for not finishing the recommended 10. Pragg spends 4-6 hours regularly at the academy, acing the sport. He also enjoys Table Tennis and swimming to stay fit and focused in his game.
As the world masters prune and polish the young potentials, we look forward to seeing more of the resolute player and his vast reserve of strategies brought out in the best form.