Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Second-youngest person to be GM in Chess is an Indian' that was published in Newsband

Second-youngest person to be GM in Chess is an Indian

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005), is an Indian chess prodigy. He is the second-youngest person ever to achieve the title of grandmaster, behind Sergey Karjakin.

Praggnanandhaa is a chess player from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Praggnanandhaa won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 boys title in 2013, and the Under-10 boys title in 2015. His elder sister, R. Vaishali, is a two-time youth chess champion.

In 2016, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest International Master in history, at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days. He achieved his first grandmaster norm at the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship (under 20) in November 2017 when finishing 4th with 8.0 points. He bagged his second norm at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM Norm tournament in Greece on 17th April 2018. On 23 June 2018 he achieved his third and final GM norm at the Gredine Open in Urtijëi by defeating GM Luca Moroni in the eighth round to become, at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 13 days, the second youngest person ever to achieve the status of grandmaster (Sergey Karjakin achieved the title at the age of 12 years and 7 months).

R. Praggnanandhaa will now have to demonstrate his staying power. Praggnanandhaa has emulated compatriot Parimarjan Negi, who became the second-youngest GM on the all-time list in 2006. Praggu, as he is affectionately called, is already a legend in the chess world. Even at a younger age, he would sit for hours with the chess pieces and solve puzzles faster than other children. At such a tender age, he has the chess world fascinated. Praggnanandhaa’s never-say-die attitude stands out. His finds the right moves in quick time. He is regarded as the most promising Indian chess talent after Negi.

He is a protégé of Grandmaster R.B. Ramesh, undoubtedly the best trainer in the country. Apart from quality inputs from Ramesh, what has also helped Praggnanandhaa’s career is the advantage of having his 17-year-old sister R. Vaishali, a Woman International Master with two Woman Grandmaster norms, as his playing partner. But the future is challenging.

Though age is clearly on Praggnanandhaa’s side, he will require the work ethic and dedication of a Viswanathan Anand, who became a Grandmaster at 18 and outlasted his peers from the teen years and went on to become a legend. He should continue to play like Vishwanathan Anand and others. Winning and losing is part of the game. He should play undeterred by the results. He should be provided with adequate facilities. In life it is not what you achieve, it is what you strive to achieve that matters. Hope Praggnanandhaa’s efforts are duly rewarded.

Kudos to the young grand master for winning global reputation and his trainer. He will prove his calibre in future and there is no doubt that chess master Anand will find his heir in chess.