Rameshbabu Praggnanandha aka R. Praggnanandhaa, an Indian chess prodigy who has been quite a fascinating topic for the world in recent news stories. This young grandmaster is all set for the FIDE World Cup, i.e., the chess World Cup. He is up against five-time world champion and the very well-known, Magnus Carlsen. The match took place on Tuesday, 22 August and all eyes were on Praggnanandha as he takes on the ultimate grandmaster himself. Many wishes poured in for this 18-year-old genius, one being from Rahul Gandhi among other prominent figures. Unfortunately, he lost the final to Chess Legend Magnus Carlsen. Pragnanandhaa emerged second in the FIDE World Cup 2023. Let us have a look at some of the amazing facts about the youngest Indian chess grandmaster:
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1. R. Praggnanandhaa became an International Master at a very young age. He was actually the youngest at the time to do so aged 10 years 10 months and 19 days.
2. He became a Grand Master at the age of 12 years 10 months and 13 days. He became the then second youngest person to achieve this title. He achieved his first GM norm at the World Junior Chess Championship, the second at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM norm tournament, and the third and final norm at the Gredine Open, finally becoming the Grand Master.
3. He is literally the fifth youngest person to become a Grand Master after Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Kerjakin, Gukesh D, and Javokhir Sindarov.
4. He is a chess prodigy from a very young age. He won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title which eventually made him a FIDE Master. He went on many winning streaks after that at a very young age.
5. In December 2019, when he was just 14 years old, he became the second youngest person to achieve a rating of 2600. Something Grand Masters struggle to do!
6. This young guy defeated Magnus Carlsen. After Anand and Harikrishna, he is the third person to do so. He won against this World Champion in any time format, in the online Airthings Masters rapid tournament of the Champions Chess Tour 2022.
7. Defeating Magnus Carlsen three times is something only a chess genius can achieve. The best part is this gives hope that he will defeat him again in the 2023 World Chess Championship and make India proud again! He defeated Carlsen for the second time at the Chessable Masters online rapid chess tournament and finally in the FTX Crypto Cup!
8. A record broken by an Indian, again. The youngest player to reach the finals in the Chess World Cup. He is surely adding a lot of accolades at this young age!
9. We can say the only Indian kid to do reach the finals then. Achieving a feat this great is truly commendable.
10. A humble beginning to a life filled with achievements!
11. Interestingly, Indian Grand Master Vishwanathan Anand also grew up in Chennai. Coincidence much?!
We look at this young chess prodigy and can only feel proud. We wish this youngest Indian chess Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa more success in his life!