Before the Chess World Cup quarter-final featuring two Indians, their coaches had refused to pick a favourite. “I don’t gamble,” said RB Ramesh, R Praggnanandhaa’s mentor. “It’s 50:50,” quipped Srinath Narayanan, who trains Arjun Erigaisi.
Their words turned out to be prophetic. The two beat each other with black in the games played under normal time control to force a tie-break. They fought tooth and nail in four games of rapid and three more in blitz, pinned each other again with black, before Praggnanandhaa prevailed in the equivalent of sudden-death in football, where they go on until there is a winner.
This makes the 18-year-old from Tamil Nadu the first Indian to enter the semi-finals of the biennial event first held in 2005. Up next is Fabiano Caruana of the USA, the World. No 3. The top three from this competition held in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku will make it to the Candidates.
If Magnus Carlsen, one of the semi-finalists in Baku, sticks to his stand of not playing the Candidates in its current format, Praggnanandhaa will make history again by becoming the first Indian after Viswanathan Anand to play in the competition which selects a player to challenge the world champion.
“It’s an important development that young Indians are taking the load off Anand’s shoulders after he carried it for so many years,” Ramesh told RevSportz. “I’m happy with what Praggu has done, but both players fought it really hard in the quarter-final. Congrats to them for producing a thrilling match.”
Hailed as a special talent since he was 10 and becoming a Grandmaster at 12, Pragganandhaa showed unnatural promise from a young age. A member of the bronze-winning India 2 team at last year’s Chess Olympiad, he has now scripted the best performance by an Indian in an event for individuals after Anand, not counting the Olympiads, which are a team event.
“Even Gukesh’s performance at an individual level at last year’s Olympiad was good,” said Ramesh, who has coached Praggnanandhaa for close to a decade. “But considering the stage and occasion, this is perhaps the best by an Indian after Anand. Remember, Praggu has beaten top players like Hikaru Nakamura (World. No 2) on his way. I’m proud of the way he held his nerves in tough moments.”
Praggnanandhaa is cooler than ice, and blessed with the ability to find the right moves under pressure. Fulfilling the promise he had shown and moving up to 29th in the world rankings with an Elo rating of 2707, this prodigy is moving towards his goal of becoming the world champion. He has taken only baby steps towards that target, but those are giant strides considering his age.
“What else do you play for?” asked Ramesh. “Once a player has reached the top 50, he or she should aim for the top. The difference between Praggu and others who also want to become world champions is his willing to pay a price for that. He will work harder to get there. Whether he will achieve that ultimate goal, we can’t say, but he is making progress.”
Talented, but under-achieving after Anand, a new generation of Indian players are trying to disprove that notion. Leading the way are youngsters like Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh and Arjun, who are still eligible for junior events. There are more waiting in the wings. The Baku display should be an inspiration for them. Coincidentally and fittingly, most of it is provided by players from the state Anand hails from.
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