Praggnanandhaa and the Big Stage of Chess

RAMESHBABU PRAGGNANANDHAA HAD a good record against Magnus Carlsen, who even though not the world champion simply because he refuses to compete now, is still considered the best player in the world. By the reckoning of many in the chess world, Carlsen is the greatest of all time. And yet, Praggnanandhaa, just 18 years old, had beaten him five times since 2022 in the shorter formats of the games. He also was the youngest player to score a win over him. Shorter formats in chess are like ODIs to Test cricket, but not exactly so. There is the same sanctity reserved for the classical version but in chess, that is magnified a hundred-fold because it is, after all, a game of deliberation. The longer you have time to think, the more you can strategise, and the fewer errors you make. Beating Carlsen in classical chess is its holy grail for all players, but for any grandmaster to make a draw is also considered more than respectable. Praggnanandhaa managed it easily in two classical games of the FIDE World Cup final against Carlsen, leading to the tie-breaker where they would be more evenly matched because, no matter how much more entertaining it is for viewers, the players know that 25 minutes (with a 10-second extension per move) for a game is just not enough to think it through when the opponent is in the same league.

Carlsen played the classical games of the final not to win. He wanted a draw because he had been suffering from acute food poisoning and hoped to be fit later for the tie-break. For grandmasters playing grandmasters, making a draw is much easier than play­ing to win, which also has the potential of loss. But injuries and ailments are part of tournaments and if Carlsen wasn’t fully fit, then it was his own responsibility and couldn’t be held against his oppo­nent. A day before the decider, Praggnanandhaa, showing sportsmanship, was telling in an interview that he hoped Carlsen would be better. It also indi­cated that he was not afraid of facing Carlsen. He had already proved that he belonged in the chair of the finals considering the quality of players he had defeated in the run-up to it. The FIDE World Cup is a knock-out tournament where all the best chess players in the world compete. In the fourth round, he played Hikaru Nakamura, who is considered one of the best in the shorter formats. Their classical games ended in a draw and shorter tie-breaks were on Nakamura’s turf, but Praggnanandhaa triumphed. He had been seeded 31 in the world when the tournament began and was nowhere among the favourites. The Nakamura win changed that. In round 6, he defeated a fellow Indian with a higher points rating, Arjun Erigaisi. In the next round, the semifinals, he defeated Fabiano Caruana, who had once competed against Carlsen for the World Chess Championship and is considered among the best in the world today. Once again, Praggnanandhaa beat the odds. His big moment was here. He would be in the finals.

Carlsen, with his phenomenal talent and experience, turned out to be too difficult in the tie-breaks. If the classical games had been staid affairs, the first tie-break was an all-out brawl from the start, with Praggnanandhaa having the white pieces and opening aggressively. There was a brief moment when it looked like he had the upper hand, but a small tactical error and he was outmanoeuvred in an instant. Carlsen just needed a draw in the second game of the tie-break to win the final. He had white, already an advantage, and didn’t take any chances, going for a solid defence that Praggnanandhaa could do noth­ing about. He had lost the tourna­ment and, yet, the whole of the chess universe was clapping for him. No one doubted that this was just a small niggle in what would be a remarkable career.

Reaching the top in world chess requires not just great ability but also one that must be fleshed out at the right time, in early childhood. Even by that measure, Praggnanandhaa had been a prodigy. He had become introduced to the game at the age of three when his parents—father, a bank manager, and mother, a homemaker—wanted his elder sister to take it up. The family went on to get two grandmasters. A PTI report of 2022 quoted his father saying: “‘We had introduced Vaishali to chess so as to cut down on her TV viewing habits as a child. As it happened, the two children liked the game and decided to pursue it,’ Rameshbabu said. ‘We are happy the two were able to make it big in the sport. More importantly, we are delighted that they are enjoying themselves by playing the sport.’”

Chess players might all begin in childhood but they typically peak somewhere in their 20s. Carlsen, for example, became a grandmaster at the age of 13 and he became world champion a decade later when he was 23. Viswanathan Anand got the crown when he was 31. By that measure, Praggnanandhaa has a long runway

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Praggnanandhaa won the World under-8 and under-10 championships. In 2016, at the age of 10, he became an international master. And he was the youngest in chess history to make the mark. The Guardian wrote about him at the time: “It is not just that he plays very well. His style is rich in tactics, with two queen sacrifices at Moscow Aeroflot in addition to his Isle of Man 18-move miniature against one of the best players in South America, a 2645 GM from Paraguay. This brilliancy is going round the chess world, has made many chess fans fully aware of the new Indian tal­ent, and has been compared to Bobby Fischer’s Game of the Century against Donald Byrne in 1956.” It was only a matter of time before he became grandmaster, and this happened when he was 12 years and 10 months old. Four months sooner he would have been the youngest grandmaster in chess history, but he had to be content with being the second youngest. Since then, it has been a steady rise to be among the cream of world chess. Chess players might all begin in childhood but they typically peak somewhere in their 20s. Carlsen, for example, became a grandmaster at the age of 13 and he became world champion a decade later when he was 23. Viswanathan Anand got the crown when he was 31. By that measure, Praggnanandhaa has a long runway.

But there are also other enticing possibilities because Carlsen has chosen not to compete for the FIDE World Championship. Because of Praggnanandhaa becoming the runner-up in the FIDE World Cup, he will get to compete in the Candidates Tournament in 2024. This will be made up of the eight best players in the world and the winner will go on to challenge the current world champion, Ding Liren. If Praggnanandhaa can maintain his current form, then he could have a shot at it. Or he could continue to grow until he peaks in a couple of years and then get the opportunity. What­ever the trajectory, he will remain an important fixture of In­dian and world chess for a long time. As Viswanathan Anand posted in X after the result of the FIDE World Cup final: “Praggnanandhaa can come back with a candidates spot and a truly wonderful result.”

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Madhavankutty Pillai

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