R Praggnanandhaa

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005) is an Indian chess prodigy and chess grandmaster. Praggnanandhaa is ranked No. 8 in the world by the International Chess Federation. Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali are the first brother-sister duo to both earn the GM title. They are also the first brother-sister duo to qualify for the Candidates.

Personal life


Praggnanandhaa was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on 10 August 2005. His father, Rameshbabu, works as a branch manager at TNSC Bank, and his mother, Nagalakshmi, is a homemaker. His elder sister, R Vaishali, is also a chess grandmaster.

20132017
Praggnanandhaa won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title in 2013, earning him the title of FIDE Master. He won the under-10 title in 2015.

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 World Junior Chess Championship in November 2017, finishing fourth with 8 points.

2018
He gained his second norm at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM norm tournament in Greece on 17 April 2018. On 23 June 2018 he achieved his third and final norm at the Gredine Open in Urtijëi, Italy, by defeating Luca Moroni in the eighth round to become, at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 13 days, the then second-youngest person ever to achieve the rank of grandmaster (Sergey Karjakin attained the title at 12 years and 7 months). He is the sixth-youngest person ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM), behind Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D, Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş, and Javokhir Sindarov.

In 2018, Praggnanandhaa was invited to the Magistral de León Masters in Spain for a four-game rapid match against Wesley So. He defeated So in game one, and after three games the score was tied at 1½–1½. In the last game, So defeated Praggnanandhaa, winning the match 2½–1½.

In January 2018, Praggnanandhaa tied for third place with GM Alder Escobar Forero and IM Denys Shmelov in the Charlotte Chess Center's Winter 2018 GM Norm Invitational held in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a score of 5.0/9.

2019
In July 2019, Praggnanandhaa won the Xtracon Chess Open in Denmark, scoring 8½/10 points (+7–0=3). On 12 October 2019, he won the World Youth Championships in the Under-18 section with a score of 9/11. In December 2019, he became the second-youngest person to achieve a rating of 2600. He did this at the age of 14 years, 3 months and 24 days.

2021
In April 2021, Praggnanandhaa won the Polgar Challenge, the first leg (out of four) of the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, a rapid online event organized by Julius Baer Group and Chess24.com for young talents. He scored 15.5/19, 1.5 points ahead of the next best placed competitors. This win helped him qualify for the next Meltwater Champions Chess Tour on 24 April 2021, where he finished in 10th place with a score of 7/15 (+4-5=6), including wins against Teimour Radjabov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Sergey Karjakin, and Johan-Sebastian Christiansen as well as a draw against World Champion Magnus Carlsen.

Praggnanandhaa entered the Chess World Cup 2021 as the 90th seed. He defeated GM Gabriel Sargissian 2–0 in round 2, and advanced to round 4 after defeating GM Michał Krasenkow in the rapid tiebreaks in round 3. He was eliminated in round four by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

2022
Praggnanandhaa played in the Masters section of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022, winning games against Andrey Esipenko, Vidit Gujrathi and Nils Grandelius, finishing in 12th place with a final score of 5½.

He was part of India-2 team in the 44th Chess Olympiad, which went on to finish third and win the bronze medal.

On 20 February 2022, he became the third Indian player (after Anand and Harikrishna) to win a game against World Champion Magnus Carlsen in any time format, in the online Airthings Masters rapid tournament of the Champions Chess Tour 2022, with a 15+10 time control. The record has since broken by Gukesh D, on 16 October 2022.

At the Chessable Masters online rapid chess tournament in May 2022, he defeated Carlsen once again, his second win over him in three months, and advanced to the finals.

He also defeated Carlsen three times in the FTX Crypto Cup 2022, finishing second behind Carlsen in the final standings.

2023
In January 2023, Praggnanandhaa played in the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2023. He defeated a 2800-rated grandmaster, Ding Liren, his first time playing, so in a classical game. He ended the tournament in 9th place with a score of 6/13.

In the Chess World Cup 2023, 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa became the world's youngest player to reach the Chess World Cup final, defeating Fabiano Caruana in tie-breaks in the semi-final. He also became the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to reach the final in Chess World Cup history. His play against former classical World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the final resulted in a defeat in the rapid tie-breaks, securing him second place and qualification for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. He was seconded during that tournament by Russian grandmaster Peter Svidler.

2024
Praggnanandhaa placed 5th out of 8 participants in the 2024 Candidates Tournament, getting 7 points out of 14. Additionally, in the 3rd round of the Norway Chess 2024 tournament, he defeated Magnus Carlsen for the first time in a classical 'over the board' match.

National

 * Arjuna Award: 2022

Others

 * CNN-News18 Indian of the Year (Sports): 2023