Who is R Praggnanandhaa? The prodigy who took chess world by storm - All you need to know

Indian chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has created a lot of buzz after becoming only the second India after Viswanathan Anand to reach the World Chess Final. The chess player, nicknamed Praggu, is currently at 1-1 in the 2023 final and has pushed World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen to tie-breaker.

Praggnanandhaa is also the youngest Indian grand master after he achieved the feat in 2018 aged 12. Here are five things to know about this extraordinary chess champion from India:

R Praggnanandhaa and his family

Praggnanandhaa was born in Chennai on August 10, 2005 to Rameshbabu and Nagalaxmi. His elder sister Vaishali is also a chess player and has been a youth champion twice.

When did Praggnanandhaa start playing chess?

After developing interest in the game seeing his sister play, the first success for the chess prodigy came in 2013 when he won the Under-8 World Youth Chess Championship at the age of 7. The win got him the title of FIDE Master. The player won the title again in 2015 in U-10 category.

International recognition for Praggnanandhaa

Praggnanandhaa became the Youngest International Master in 2016 aged 10 years 10 months and 19 days. Next year in 2017 he won his first Grandmaster Norm at the World Junior Chess Championship.

Second youngest Grand Master

In the year 2018 Praggnanandhaa became the second youngest Grand Master after achieving the feat at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 13 days. He beat Luco Moroni in Gredine Open in Italy to get to the remarkable feat.

Beating Magnus Carlsen

In the year 2022, Praggnanandhaa, at the online Airthings Masters, became only the third Indian after Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna to beat World Champion Magnus Carlsen. He was the youngest to beat the reigning world champion.

Becomes second Indian to reach Chess World Cup final

Aged 18, Praggnanandhaa beat world no. 3 Fabiano Caruana in the tie-breaker to reach the FIDE World Cup final. He became only the second Indian to achieve the feat after Viswanathan Anand.

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