With the cricket team bouncing back after hiccups in the longest format, the chess contingent has not let India down. R Praggnanandhaa, winner of the first top event of the year at Wijk Aan Zee, is the joint-leader with Aravindh Chithambaram, behind on tie-break score, after Round 5 of the Prague Masters. This is not a top-most event, but a formidable gathering nonetheless.
Pragg and Aravindh are leading this nine-round competition featuring 10 players, with 3.5 points each and a full point ahead of their nearest rivals, is a continuation of the Indian surge in chess. These players have not let down the unprecedented momentum of 2024, when they won everything. Pragg won this year’s first top-notch title, and he is playing up to reputation with Aravindh in Prague.
These two go back a long way. Both are products of the RB Ramesh chess school in Chennai, and they have known each other since they were kids. Pragg, with world champion D Gukesh, another sensation like Arjun Erigaisi, became household names over the last year or so. Before them (not mentioning Viswanatahn Anand), Aravindh was the next big thing from Chennai after K Sasikiran and B Adhiban. He got overshadowed in the explosion caused by the teenagers, but it has not let his progress suffer.
Unnoticed, Aravindh has moved up to World No 22. Because there are four more Indians before him and three in the top 10, this player’s rapid progress has been overlooked. The 26-year-old won a super-strong tournament in Chennai late last year, and he had been on an upward curve even before that. Not spoken of in the same breath with others, he is a man to watch, no doubt.
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Can Pragg make it in the Prague Masters? Overshadowed by Gukesh and Arjun last year, the first major global chess headline from India after Anand has started the year with a bang. Conquering a star-studded field at Wijk Aan Zee, including a tie-breaker victory in the final round against Gukesh, has boosted his confidence. This 19-year-old is World No. 8 at the moment, just a notch below his previous best of No. 7.
Incidentally, both Aravindh and Pragg have beaten Vincent Keymer in this event in Prague. The German, ranked 25th in the world, was a part of Gukesh’s support team in his world championship winning campaign in Singapore. The Czech Republic is also the adopted home of Pentala Harikrishna, another member of the youngest-ever world champion’s group of seconds.
In the last four rounds, Pragg and Aravindh will come across opponents tougher than they have encountered in the first five rounds. But that one-point lead at this stage can be decisive. Seasoned pros don’t let that advantage slip in elite gatherings. Will there be another Indian triumph? Fingers crossed.
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