Praggnanandhaa — International Master!

Praggnanandhaa — International Master!

Uzbek GM Marat Dzhumaev was hanging on to dear life in the chill of Delhi as a ten-year-old youngster kept pressing giving him no respite. Time pressure did not help the grandmaster either, but he had a lucky escape as he played accurately to hold the draw. The boy seemed to be putting in more efforts to pick the pieces from the last rank than in calculating one of the many tough variations. He was disappointed that he could get no more than a draw.

The title of grandmaster has a certain charm to it that entices people to revere the ones who achieve it. Even more so, when the one who annexes the title is a youngster. Many of the top players today have made it to the youngest grandmasters list in the past. In fact, the World Champion today was the third youngest grandmaster in chess history, and his challenger to the title, Karjakin that is, is the youngest ever. Although it in no way assures what is in store for the future, one thing is certain — the group of juniors who rule the roost today is likely to be ruling the top in the coming decade.

A. Rameshbabu's children Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa were giving him sleepless nights. The kids were so good at chess that they kept winning titles at state, national and international levels. People who knew the siblings understood that both the kids would go far. Vaishali became the Indian National Women's 'B' champion in 2015, besides winning a handful of medals in the various youth events. Praggnanandhaa, besides his share of youth medals, is in the process of rewriting history books.

In the middle of 2014, FIDE brought in a new concept — the k factor for juniors aged below 18 was increased to 40 — and this witnessed players rising and even falling up and down the rating charts almost as consistently as the heat in Chennai, the city to which Praggu belongs. The change in the k factor has made it difficult to compare the talents from the previous decade with Prggnanandhaa's generation, and he himself suffered his share of ups and downs, but already by February 2016, at the age of ten years and seven months, he was rated 2301.

Then began a fairytale period as he reeled off a norm performance after another. He made a trip to the French city of Cannes in late February to play his first grandmaster open outside India.  Praggnanandhaa played excellent chess in the tournament, made his maiden IM norm despite losing the last round and did not even know about it till some Indians asked Vaishali, who later discovered that yes, her younger sibling had made it! 

From the windy Cannes, he made way to the strong open tournament in the chill of Moscow — Aeroflot B Open. After three rounds, Praggu's score read 0.5/3.

In early April, Praggnanandhaa made his way to the Asian Youth Championship 2016, and almost effortlessly won the Gold in Under-12 section, although the field was devoid of any real challenge. On 23 May 2016, he started as the twentieth seed in the KIIT International Open in Bhubaneswar, India with a rating of 2368. And although the tournament is not over yet, and the organisers have not bothered to provide us the PGN, Praggu was well on course to register, at least, his final IM-norm.

Ramesh is an honest person, and he candidly admits that he had a slip of the tongue. "When he left for the tournament, I slipped and told Praggu go for a GM norm, adding that he was capable of it. That is when Aravindh (GM Aravindh Chithambaram) interrupted saying 'Sir, why are you asking him to play for silly results?' I admitted, sorry, my bad!" he recounts .

Well, the tournament began, and:

He managed to defeat GM Karen Grigoryan in the fourth round and has managed to remain solid in the remaining games, barring the loss in the eighth round. He has already touched the 2400 mark in this tournament. He was just a regulation finish away from doing the needful, and he did so, with a win in the ninth round over Al Muthiah (2308) just a few minutes back. At ten years and ten months of age, Praggnanandhaa has created history by becoming the world's youngest International Master.