Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, better known as R Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess player, who is just 18 years old at the moment (as of August 2023). At an age when most chess players focus on gaining experience and getting the fundamentals of the game right, R Praggnanandhaa is already a grandmaster.
The wonder kid breaks headlines every now and then, but it all started in 2016 when R Praggnanandhaa became the youngest international master in the history of chess at the mere age of 10 years, ten months and 19 days. The Indian grandmaster has already got the title of ‘chess prodigy’ in the chess world.
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R Praggnanandhaa has taken the legacy of legendary Indian chess grandmaster, Viswanathan Anand forward and upward. For the unversed, it was on August 21, 2023, when R Praggnanandhaa beat Fabiano Caruana in the semi-finals of the FIDE World Cup. He became the second Indian chess player after Viswanathan Anand to reach the finals of the FIDE World Cup.
In the FIDE World Cup final, R Praggnanandhaa locked horns against the world champion, Magnus Carlsen on August 22, 2023. However, it ended in a draw after 35 moves. After which, the two will meet again for a second final on August 24, 2023. It will be a historic match as a 32-year-old Norwegian will take on an 18-year-old Indian chess player. This is the biggest moment of R Praggnanandhaa’s chess career, and no wonder he will be both pumped and nervous ahead of the finals.
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Many people are unaware of R Praggnanandhaa’s journey to become a chess player. Thus, we’ve assembled a series of things that one should know about this chess prodigy, who deserves all the recognition in the world.
Indian chess grandmaster, R Praggnanandhaa was born on August 10, 2005, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Just like him, his sister, Vaishali is also an international master and woman grandmaster. Both the kids are making Indians proud with the way they’re playing chess on the world stage. While their father works as a branch manager at TSC Bank, their mother is a homemaker.
For the unversed, R Vaishali won the title of Woman Grandmaster back in 2018, when she completed her final norm in the open chess tournament, which was held at Riga Technical University. After which, R Vaishali earned the title of International Master in 2021.
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The story of chess prodigy, R Praggnanandhaa’s entry into the world of chess is quite interesting, as it has a hilarious plot. When the 18-year-old chess grandmaster was in his early childhood days, he used to watch a lot of cartoon shows on television.
There came the point when he started spending a lot of time watching cartoons on TV, and it was when his elder sister, R Vaishali introduced him to chess so that he doesn’t waste all his time watching cartoons.
The clever trick from R Vaishali worked, and soon R Praggnanandhaa started spending more time playing chess and watching cartoons on TV became a thing of the past. However, neither his sister nor his parents could think that soon in the coming years, R Praggnanandhaa would put India’s mark on the global stage.
However, with time, R Praggnanandhaa’s game started making noise, and after winning his first title, World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 in 2013, he never looked back.
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It was in February 2022 when 16-year-old R Praggnanandhaa defeated world champion, Magnus Carlsen at the Airthings Masters, which was an online rapid chess tournament.
For the unversed, R Praggnanandhaa’s win over Magnus Carlsen was historic, as the latter is regarded as the greatest chess player ever. However, he repeated his historic feat again on May 20, 2022, at the Chessable Masters, which was once again an online rapid chess tournament.
What are your thoughts about R Praggnanandhaa and his journey as a chess grandmaster so far? Let us know.
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