Atreyo Mukhopadhyay
A prodigy at 10, international chess sensation by 17-18 and then classmates — so to say — zoom past him. He is still quite good, but a notch below his contemporary players who have broken into the elite of the elite in terms of achievements. That’s how it was for R Praggnanandhaa in 2024.
While D Gukesh became the youngest world champion and Arjun Erigaisi went past the 2800 mark in Elo ratings, which only 13 players had done before him, Pragg’s best was not good enough to get close to the players he had known since childhood. Gukesh and Erigaisi won top individual honours at the Olympiad. Going by performance, Pragg was a low-key member of that gold-winning team. He was still near the top, but had fallen from a career-best of seventh and hovering around 15th.
Two take a tumble, two move up
The player turning 20 in August has been part of a reversal of sorts in 2025, which has seen Pragg and Aravindh Chithambaram leading the Indian charge. So far, Gukesh and Erigaisi have performed below the level they had reached. Winner of the prestigious Tata Steel event in Wijk aan Zee, and one point behind winner Aravindh at the Prague Masters, Pragg is sharing the lead at the Superbet Chess Classic in the Romanian capital of Bucharest. Gukesh is in the pack at the bottom.
It’s a strong field featuring five top-10 players. Pragg, the World No. 7, is on three points after four rounds. Level with him are No. 5 Fabiano Caruana of the USA and Maxim Vachier-Lagrave of France, who defeated Gukesh in the fourth round. Pragg, who drew with Caruana and No. 4 Gukesh before beating No. 6 Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, shared the point with black with Bogdan-Daniel Deac. The Romanian is the only one in the field of 10 rated below 2700.
Better numbers, better ranking
Irrespective of where the player from Chennai finishes in Bucharest, his figures for the year are impressive. In the classical format, he has won 10, drawn 14 and lost three of his 27 games in 2025. Other than Nodirbek, he has beaten top-10 players like Caruana and Erigaisi. Pragg also outlasted Gukesh in a topsy-turvy tie-breaker for the Tata Steel title. He is back to his previous best of No. 7 and barring unexpected results in Bucharest, it should get better in the next rating list.
Pragg and Aravindh, who has risen from No. 23 in January to 12 in May, are also showing the collective strength of this generation. Gukesh and Erigaisi created ripples last year and will be part of the event named Norway Chess starting later this month. The six-player field will feature No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and five of the world’s top six. Pragg had beaten Carlsen in this tournament last year and he is not even part of it this time.
Since a player can’t control these things, Pragg is doing what he can. There has been a decline in his percentage of defeats. In fact, of the three he suffered this year, two were against Dutch World No. 18 Anish Giri. He overcame the first in the opening round of Tata Steel, but the one in the last round in Prague cost him the title. Even then, there are signs that his defence mechanism has become more vigilant. In five tough rounds in Bucharest, he will need that to go with his aggressive instincts.