Back to back IM norms for Praggnanandhaa!

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 11/03/2016

He is one of the best rising talents of India. After scoring his maiden IM norm at the Cannes festival just a few days ago, Praggnanandhaa followed it up with another brilliant performance at the Aeroflot Open 2016. He is just ten years old and already has two IM norms and a live rating of 2376! Little Praggu annotated two of his best games for our dear readers and also granted us a short video interview following his memorable performance.

Back to back IM norms for Praggnanandhaa!

You are playing in a strong open tournament in the chill of Moscow, Russia and your score reads 0.5/3. Would you feel dejected? What do you think a ten-year-old hard-working boy would feel?

It is not how hard you can hit that counts, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. Praggnanandhaa R. did just that and scored his second consecutive IM-norm in less than a month. We reported his success at Cannes and Aeroflot tournaments recently.

Little Praggu speaks of his recent few games, his preparations, and more, in this crisp interview by Sagar

Behind every successful chess player, there is his/her coach celebrating the joy!

Notes by FM Praggnanandhaa R.:

Lucas Di Nicolantonia vs. Praggnanandhaa R.

[Event "cannes open 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.02.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Di Nicolantonia, Lucas"]
[Black "Praggnanandhaa, R."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2413"]
[BlackElo "2301"]
[Annotator "Praggnanandhaa"]
[PlyCount "66"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 {The third most popular move
after 5.Be3 and 5.Nxc6} Bb6 6. Nc3 Nge7 7. Qe2 O-O {Now Black is ready to
attack the centre by means of 8...d5 or 8...f5} 8. Be3 d6 9. O-O-O f5 {The
most natural, Black is challenging White's central e4-pawn, undermining
White's plans for central domination.} 10. f4 fxe4 11. g3 {White would like to
play Bg2. This move was introduced by GM Negi.} Nf5 12. Bxb6 axb6 13. Bg2 (13.
Kb1 $1 e3 {Negi, P (2639)-Maiorov, N (2552)/Cappelle la Grande FRA 2012. Now
White should have played} 14. Rg1 $1 {preparing 15.g4 and obtaining a slightly
better position.}) 13... e3 14. Kb1 Kh8 15. Be4 Nh6 16. Qxe3 Ng4 17. Qd2 Nf6
18. Bg2 Be6 19. h3 Na5 20. Nd4 (20. Nxa5 Rxa5 21. a3 d5 22. Rhe1 $16) 20... Bg8
21. Rhe1 $6 Nc4 22. Qd3 c6 23. Ne6 $2 Bxe6 24. Rxe6 d5 25. b3 Na3+ 26. Kb2 b5 {
Making a way for Queen} 27. Qd4 Qa5 28. Bf1 c5 $1 29. Qxc5 Rfc8 30. Qd4 Ne4 (
30... Nxc2 $1 {This ends quicker} 31. Kxc2 Qxa2+ 32. Kd3 Qxb3 $19) 31. b4 Nc4+
32. Bxc4 Qa3+ 33. Ka1 Nxc3 0-1

Praggu with his coach R.B. Ramesh and his team-mates of Chess Gurukul

Notes by FM Praggnanandhaa R.:

Praggnanandhaa R. vs. Levon Babujian

[Event "aeroflot open B 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Praggnanandhaa, R."]
[Black "Babujian , Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2339"]
[BlackElo "2491"]
[Annotator "Praggnanandhaa"]
[PlyCount "67"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. Bb3 O-O 7. O-O a6 8. h3 h6
9. Re1 Be6 10. Bc2 Ba7 11. Nbd2 d5 12. exd5 Qxd5 13. Qe2 Rfe8 14. Nf1 Qd7 15.
Be3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 Rad8 17. Ng3 b5 18. Qf2 {with the idea of d4} (18. d4 $6 exd4
19. exd4 $2 (19. cxd4 Nb4 20. Bb1 c5 $15 {Black has active pieces}) 19... Bxh3
$17) 18... Qd6 19. d4 b4 $6 20. Ba4 {drawback of b4} exd4 21. Nxd4 Bd7 22. Bxc6
Bxc6 23. Ngf5 Qd7 (23... Qd5 24. c4 Qd7 {now b4 pawn will not be hanging}) 24.
Qg3 Nh5 (24... g6 25. Nxh6+ Kf8 (25... Kg7 26. Rf1 $18) (25... Kh7 26. Qf2 $18)
26. Rf1 $18) 25. Qg4 g6 26. Nxh6+ Kg7 (26... Kh7 27. Nxc6 Qxc6 28. Nxf7 Rd2 29.
cxb4 $18) 27. Nhf5+ Kg8 (27... Kh7 28. cxb4 $18) 28. Rf1 Bd5 29. cxb4 Re4 30.
Qg5 Rde8 31. Nh6+ Kh8 32. Ng4 Kg8 $4 33. Qxh5 Qd6 (33... gxh5 34. Nf6+ {
family fork}) 34. Qxd5 1-0

ChessBase India wishes the young champion all the best in his endeavours!