From Chennai to World Stage: The Incredible Story of R Praggnanandhaa (2024)

📌 বাংলা (Bengali)

Hello friends 👋🏻, Welcome to JARVIS_SL's blog...

In my this blog, I'm going to talk about a young superstar whose journey not only inspires you but also redefines the very essence of achievement. He is none other than the Indian chess Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa. This blog will help you to explore his childhood life and his brilliant performance at FIDE World Cup 2023.

Table of contents

• Introduction
  • Achievements
• Pragg's performance at FIDE World Cup 2023
  • Quarterfinal (R Praggnanandhaa vs Arjun Erigaisi)
    • Classical Games
    • First Tiebreaker
    • Second Tiebreaker
    • Third Tiebreaker
    • Sudden Death
  • Semifinal ( R Praggnanandhaa vs Fabiano Caruana)
    • Classical Games
    • First Tiebreaker
    • Second Tiebreaker
  • Final ( R Praggnanandhaa vs Magnus Carlsen)
    • Classical Games
    • First Tiebreaker
• Conclusion

R Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess Grandmaster(GM). He became the youngest International Master (IM) at the age of 10 and a Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 12, the second-youngest at that time to do so.

Growing up in the shadow of his sisterVaishali Rameshbabu, who herself is a chess Grandmaster, Pragg began playing the game at the age of three with the encouragement from his parents. He displayed exceptional chess skills at a very young age and quickly rose to prominence. At 10 years and 10 months, he became the world's youngest International Master in 2016. He achieved this feat by winning the World Youth Chess Championship in the under-14 age category. He became a Grandmaster at the age of 12 in 2018, the second youngest player to do so at the time. Pragg reached the 2600 mark in ELO ratings at the age of 14, once again a world record at the time.

Achievements:

Praggnanandhaa is considered to be one of the most promising young chess players in the world. He is still only 18 years old, but he has already achieved great things.

• In 2016, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest international master in history at the age of 10 years and 10 months.

• In 2018, he then became the second-youngest Grandmaster in history at the age of 12 years and 10 months.

• Pragg reached the 2600 mark in ELO ratings at the age of 14, once again a world record at the time.

• Praggnanandhaa impressed the world in 2022. He became the youngest chess player to defeat World Champion Magnus Carlsen at the Airthings Masters (a online rapid chess tournament).

• He received the Arjuna Award from President Draupadi Murmu at the National Sports and Adventure Awards 2022 ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

• In January 2023, Praggnanandhaa played in the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2023. He defeated GMDing Liren, a 2800-rated grandmaster, for the first time in his life in a classical game.

• In 2023, he become the first Indian since Viswanathan Anand in 2002 to make it to the final of FIDE World Cup.

Praggnanandhaa has achieved so many things at this early age that it is difficult for me to list all of his accomplishments in this blog. However, I hope that the above mentioned achievements have given you a glimpse into his incredible journey. If you are interested in learning more about Pragg then I'll suggest you to please follow him on social media.

Classical Games:

First Tiebreakers (25 minutes+ 10 seconds):

Second Tiebreaker (10 minutes+ 10 seconds):

As the first two games (with the time control of 25 minutes+10 seconds increment) ended in a draw, Pragg and Arjun have to face themselves in the 2nd tie-breaker (with a time control of 10 minutes+10 seconds increment). The first game of this tie-breaker won by Praggnanandhaa with black, but Arjun levelled in the next game with the same time control to force the matter into the next round of tie-breaker (5 mins+3 sec time control).

Third Tiebreaker (5 minutes+ 3 seconds):

Here Pragg again took the lead with black pieces before Arjun fought back once more to push the contest to sudden death. But this round of tie-breaker is also ended as a draw.

Sudden Death (3 minutes+2 seconds):

The sudden death.. Despite a testing time control of 3 minutes and 2 seconds increment per move per player, Pragg arrived 30 seconds late for the key game but he still managed to come out stronger with precise play.

Finnally Praggnanandhaa become the first Indian since Viswanathan Anand in 2002 to reach the semifinals of FIDE World Cup after beating compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in the fantastic sudden death blitz showdown after 8 previous games failed to find a winner.

Classical Games:

After the first game, ended as a draw, Caruana pressed hard for the advantage, possibly not wanting to take the game to tiebreakers against the fiery youngster but Pragg held steady and maintained razor-sharp focus. Caruana succeeded in establishing twoconnected passed pawns on the king's sidebut Praggnanandhaa gave nothing awayand defended with his rook and knight andthe players agreed to draw after 47 moves.

First Tiebreaker ( 25 minutes+ 10 seconds):

After the two games of classical series of the semifinal which was ended as 1-1, now the match had to be settled in tiebreakers.

Second Tiebreaker (10 minutes + 10 seconds):

The first two rapid games ended in draw, but Pragg managed to get the better of the American Grandmaster in the third game to put one foot into the final. All he had to do was draw the next game to enter the title clash. It was nervy for Pragg, who tried to be a tad too cautious in what should've been a very comfortable game for him. He somehow managed to hold on and draw the match to confirm his spot in the final against five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen.

"The win in this match goes to my defensive skills, otherwise I was almost losing in every single game. In the first two classical games, I was defending throughout," Pragg told FIDE after his victory.

"The third game (first tiebreaker) I was lost but with time pressure, it's never easy. In the fourth game, I was pushing a little bit. Fifth game (which Praggnanandhaa won) the position was equal but things went wrong for him. Despite the time scramble, I managed not to mess up and convert it. In the final game, I tried to be cautious which is never a good idea in such situations and then I allowed a lot of counterplay. I could have been in danger," Pragg reflected on the match.

At the end, the 18-year-old R Praggnanandhaa who beat his 31-year-old opponent, World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana to become the first Indian since Viswanathan Anand in 2002 to make it to the final of FIDE World Cup.

Final (R Praggnanandhaa vs Magnus Carlsen):

It is the final of FIDE World Cup. It's Pragg's ultimate test to face World No. 1 Carlsen. While Pragg has beaten him in online rapid format in February 2022 and May 2022. He also defeated Carlsen three times in a row at the FTX Crypto Cup in August 2022. They may be good friends after playing in the same team in the Global Chess League, but Carlsen isn't going to take it easy, just like he comfortably defeated India's highest-rated player, 17-year-old Gukesh D in the quarterfinal.

Being in the final of the World Cup is a great achievement for Pragg, having become the first Indian since Anand in 2002 to do so, but his ultimate goal will undoubtedly be to play and win the final.

Classical Games:

In the first game, Pragg, playing with white pieces, tried a different approach in the opening, which looked to have confused Carlsen who fell back on time, trying to decide his moves. "Pragg moves around a bit with his opening. I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't prepare for c4( the first move played by Pragg). Then I started to play some common sense moves," Carlsen said after the game.

In this tournament, Carlsen generally avoided the tiebreakers. Carlsen's only loss in this tournament was against 18-year-old German Vincent Keymer. After beating him in tiebreakers, Carlsen not only didn't lose a single game but also avoided tiebreakers in his run to the final. It was almost like he wanted to avoid tiebreakers. Pragg's best chance of winning the World Cup would be to take Carlsen to tiebreakers. The shorter the format, the better Pragg's chances are to win the finals.

The second game took only 30 moves to finish, taking just about an hour and 10 minutes, the second classical game of the FIDE World Cup final between Magnus Carlsen and R Praggnanandhaa was done. It was like the five-time world champion and India's young superstar wanted to finish their game to see the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon.

The second game is a 4 Knight Game as all four knights are played. It is considered to be defensive and the sole purpose of this is generally to play out a draw.

"I didn't really think that he (Carlsen) would go for a quick draw. I'm fine with that. I also feel exhausted," Pragg told FIDE after the game.

First Tiebreaker (25 minutes + 10 seconds):

Pragg may have lost the final to Magnus Carlsen but it was undoubtedly his best performance at a major tournament. He defeated World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura, fellow teen prodigy and compatriot Arjun Erigaisi, and World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana in tie-breakers to become the youngest World Cup finalist ever. Seeded 31, Pragg is also the lowest seed to make the final of the World Cup. Winning the final would have been a sensational result for Praggnanandhaa but just making it to the final, he secured a spot in the2024 Candidates Tournament.

Behind the success of Praggnanandhaa, his mother, Nagalakshmi has also a major role. At most tournaments, Nagalakshmi spends time either cooking or praying for his son. When traveling, she carries utensils so that Pragg gets his comfort food. Breakfast are mostly at the hotel spread but for lunch and dinner, the mother's mini south Indian kitchen gets operational with sambar rice, tomato rice, curd rice, rasam etc. on the menu list. Pragg once called his mother, "the backbone of my success" but even if he had called her the brain and heart, it wouldn't have been wrong.

After his incredible performance, he received congratulatory messages from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, GM Viswanathan Anand, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and other big names. Some of them are

Many wishes and love from our side also to Pragg for his brilliant performance. Wishing him a very best of luck for the upcoming events.

:: Sawal Babu ka Sawal ::

I hope you enjoyed my this blog. Please share this with your friends and if you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment below.

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Thanks For Reading!!

Related Readings:

• The Life Story of Praggnanandhaa in 120 Pictures: From Young Talent to a Candidate
• 'You personify passion and perseverance': PM Modi meets chess prodigy Praggnanandhaa