On August 24, a cricket-consuming India was biting its nails. And it was not for Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma. An 18-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa was playing chess superstar and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the final of the Fide World Cup.
The first two games had ended in draws and winners would have to be decided in tie-breakers The odds were stacked against him but Praggu, as he is known in the chess circle, was not ready to give up easily. The Chennai-based Grandmaster put up a valiant fight but Carlsen was class apart.
But despite the defeat, Praggu had caught the imagination of the country. That’s an achievement in itself since chess is a more cerebral game.
His entry into the final — the second Indian and youngest to do that after Viswanathan Anand — also guaranteed a slot in the Candidates chess tournament, the final contest to determine the challenger who will take on the incumbent world champion.
When he landed in Chennai on August 30 the most enduring image was an amused Praggu peeking out of a car top with a platoon of television mics and cameras trying to get the best shot.
The new chess sensation had arrived, the baton has passed from the maestro, Anand.
Currently ranked 13th in the world with an Elo rating of 2740, Praggu has shown that he has the potential to become the world champion. “Amazing mental make-up, and never flinches from challenges,” his long-time coach RB Ramesh had told The Telegraph speaking about his shinning Knight. Ramesh’s Chess Gurukul in Chennai is the place that Praggu started frequenting when he was eight years old.
Praggu’s confidence is such that during a news conference in Calcutta days after the Fide World Cup, he was at ease with every question lobbed at him. “Yeah, I think I have the potential to be a world champion. And I’m working towards that,” the rich baritone reverberated around the spacious news conference room.
Praggu is not the only one from Paadi, the neighborhood on the outskirts of Chennai, who is creating a lot of noise in the chess world. His elder sister Vaishali, 22, became a Grandmaster — only the third Indian woman after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika — on December 1. Now both will be playing in the Candidates tournament to be held in Toronto in April.
Siblings as Grandmasters is a first in chess history.
To think that Rameshbabu and Nagalakshmi got them enrolled in chess to dissuade the young siblings from devouring cartoon series on television and now both are Grandmasters is a story of perseverance and dedication.
India has produced quite a few siblings who have excelled in the same sport. Hockey wizards Dhyan Chand-Roop Singh, tennis stars Anand-Ashok Amritraj, PK-Prasun Banerjee in football to Olympian archers Dola-Rahul Banerjee. Praggu-Vaishali duo are the newest on the list.
“She worked very hard the last few months and this augurs well as she gets ready for the candidates,” Anand wrote on X minutes after it was confirmed that Vaishali would be India’s 84th Grandmaster. At present, she, like her brother, is ranked 13th in the world.
India would be following how the siblings from Chennai perform in Candidates.
