Praggnanandhaa eyes world record

At 11, he became the youngest International Master last year and there are already comparisons between him and the greatest Indian player, Viswanathan Anand. 

From International Master to Grandmaster is a somewhat arduous journey, especially if you are chasing a world record and that too in such a short span of time. The Chennai prodigy is likely to eclipse Sergey Karjakin’s world record as the only pre-teen player to achieve the GM title. The Russian became the youngest GM in the history of chess at the age of 12 years and seven months and the previous record stood in the name of  Norway’s reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen (GM at 13 years four months). No wonder, these two Grandmasters played the last World Championship match last November. 

Though their parents did not play chess, it was easy for Praggnanandhaa to take the plunge at the age of five because his sister R Vaishali was already in tournament mode and he must have got good practice every day at home. 

Like his sister, who had won the under-12 and under-14 World titles, Pragg was also good in age-group events, winning the world under-eight title in 2013, the under-10 in 2015. 

But age-group chess is behind him, now that he is going after the adult’s targets. His IM norms all came last year at Cannes, France, in February, the second in Moscow at the Aeroflot in March and then his third and final norm at Bhubaneswar, India, in May, so qualifying him as an IM at 10 years nine months and breaking Karjakin’s world record by more than a year. 

That is why the young boy skipped playing in the Chennai Open, currently on in the city, to play in the Tata Steel Group C, which has just begun. He has a rating of 2440 which would give him sufficient cushion to reach 2500 if and when he makes those three GM norms. 

“I want to be a Grandmaster this year,” said a determined Pragg before leaving for Wijk aan Zee, where his city-mate B Adhiban is playing in the top group, which includes Carlsen and Karjakin. A sixth-standard student at Velammal school, Pragg and sister are well supported by the state association and the school for their chess progress. 

Incidentally, both of them are trained by Grandmaster RB Ramesh, who feels Pragg should not put too much pressure on himself thinking about the record.