How the chess magic of Pragnanandhaa got involved in cricket-mad India
Written byTimes Magazine
The teenager's rise to stardom was marked by a stunning win over The Greatest Player earlier this year.
In India, a nation of over a across people who are mostly cricket-crazy, Rameshbabu Pragnanandhaa was attracted to the Shah at the age of three.
He watched his sister Vaishali Rameshbabu - who was enrolled in a chess academy by his father, who was angry at his television addiction - in his training room. Then Praggnanandhaa said he fell in love with chess. Initially, he would only play alone before training with his 21-year-old sister, who became his first football role model.
Praggnanandhaa's ascent to success was steep. At the age of 7 he earned the FIDE Master's degree, the third highest title a chess player can achieve after the Grandmaster also International Masters. Just three years later, he earned the title of International Master, becoming the youngest player ever to achieve the feat.
Other successes soon followed.
Two years later, in 2018, Praggnanandhaa evolved the fifth youngest grandmaster in the world and the youngest Indian to win the title.
In February this year, the 16-year-old counted another feather to his hat when he defeated the world's number one chess player, Magnus Carlsen, at Airthings Masters, an online fast-paced chess competition. Carlsen appeared to be in a better mood in a more comfortable environment as the tournament was held in Central European Time.
It was the fourth match of the night for Praggnanandhaa. In the previous three matches, Praggnanandhaa won once, lost once and the third ended in a draw. In the first 31 moves in 33 minutes of play, Pragnanandhaa faced stiff competition from Carlsen, the five-time world champion from Norway, while the latter made what commentators have called a "mistake".
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