Praggnanandhaa was in Chennai for a short break after a busy run of tournaments when he visited the 1st Chola Chess Open. He made the ceremonial first move in Round 7, followed the games and joined the commentary team. Read this interview article to knwo about Praggnanadhaa's views on the event’s strong rating cutoff, India’s rising young players, the Chola Chess initiative, and the challenges of adapting to different time controls.
Devansh Singh: How long have you been here in India, are you going somewhere shortly?
Pragg: Yeah, I have been in India for four or five days. I am goin to Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands for the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, 2027.
Devansh Singh: Okay, so you have been following the games, I believe. And what are your impressions of the tournament so far? How has it been going according to you?
Praggnanandhaa: Yeah, it is a fairly strong tournament. I think one of the strongest open events. If you have such good rating cutoff, then it makes the tournament super interesting. And yeah, I can see a lot of kids doing really well. And if you see, I think the usual grandmasters are at the top, but a lot of names with fighting potential and a lot of interesting games.
Devansh Singh: So Pragg, you just got back from the Clutch Chess and now you’re back in Chennai and you’ll be travelling back to Tata Steel Chess. So yeah, how does it feel to come back to Chennai for some days in this break thing?
Praggnanandhaa: Yeah, it’s my home, man. I want to come back after every tournament. I’m not someone who enjoys staying abroad so much. So even if I have a small break, I usually like to come back home, take a few days’ break and go back to the tournament.
Devansh Singh: And about this tournament, Pragg, because a tournament of this scale the rating average is 2412 and I don’t think India has ever seen this kind of an open event. So how does it feel for you as a chess player that an event of this scale is happening here?
Praggnanandhaa: Yeah, it’s great to have such a tournament in India because I think the rating cutoff is the most important thing for any player. You can see so many young players, getting an opportunity to play strong players here. Even when you go to the bottom boards, there are still strong players playing, and it’s a difficult tournament. I think it’s something Indian players required. Most of us travel abroad to play great open tournaments, and now we have it in India, in such good conditions. It’s extremely important, and I hope it becomes a tradition and continues every year. For me as a player, the rating cutoff is the most important thing, and if that can be followed in other tournaments as well, it will be great.
Devansh Singh: And do you remember when was the last time you played an open event in India?
Praggnanandhaa: The last time I played in Chennai, it was probably the Olympiad. : But the last open event, I don’t think I played any after COVID, so it must have been before that.
Devansh Singh: Yeah. And that was the issue that the Indian chess ecosystem was missing events like this where the rating average is so high. So players used to travel abroad, and Chola Chess started this initiative. So can you tell us about Chola Chess and how it’s helping the Indian chess ecosystem? I’ve seen you are also attending the camps at Chola Chess, and more than 50% of these kids like Sarbartho, Madhvendra, Madesh and all these kids are also attending Chola Chess camps.
Praggnanandhaa: Yeah, also, I think if this tournament can become regular, we can even see 2700s playing in it. Once you have a strong tournament with a good rating cutoff, I think players will come and play because there are not too many strong open events. Usually we have them in UAE countries, like Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, but they also didn’t happen last year. So if you have one really good tournament with good conditions, I think top players can come.
And Chola Chess, yeah, I think this Chola Chess initiative is something special. The classes part has been happening for around a year. I’ve attended a few camps. I remember attending both the camps last year. I didn’t attend any this year, but I really enjoyed it. Getting to be along with a lot of other grandmasters and discussing chess for the whole day, I think it’s interesting.
I believe it’s an even greater opportunity for kids who are coming up to be able to have regular coaching with a GM or a top trainer, and to be along with other kids who are also doing well. That can inspire you to work harder. I feel this system can bring a lot of players.
I’m really grateful to Chola Chess and Aarthie ma’am for all their thought behind it and all their efforts to make this initiative go. We are already seeing so many kids who are part of Chola doing really well, so yeah, it’s amazing.
Devansh Singh: So are you following the tournament and the standings, results about what’s happening here?
Praggnanandhaa: Yeah, I’m following it every day. The games are really interesting, and all these young kids are really playing well. Their games are also interesting to watch. For example, yesterday I was watching Aarit Kapil’s game against Surya, and it was fascinating how confidently they were playing. But obviously, at the end, he should have won that game. Inexperience probably kicked in. I think these games help in getting the experience and exposure to play grandmasters. Overall, I feel the tournament is exciting to follow.
Devansh Singh: And, Pragg, about the commentary, because I saw you were there in the commentary panel for one hour. How was the experience there? Normally you are on the other side, you are playing there and the other people, like Sagar and all the others, are doing the commentary. So how does it feel to be there and watch the games? And if you can tell us something interesting that is happening right now.
Praggnanandhaa: Yeah, it’s fun, less stressful, more enjoyable. But, you know, I think there are a lot of interesting games. Karthik and Ilamparthi’s game is quite interesting. The top board is also interesting because it finished half a point late, but its position seems a bit difficult. I think that’s usually how Pranesh plays, so it’s probably not a big deal for him.
I feel like we are heading towards the last few games, so everyone is trying to fight. I think that’s also the most interesting thing. When you have some rating gaps, usually games are more fighting. But I don’t think anyone is weak here, so games won’t be one-sided as well. It will always be some good fighting chess, and that’s something we need to follow.
Devansh Singh: And one thing about the tournament situation: you told us that yesterday Aarit was clearly better against Surya and he could have won the game, but in the end it ended in a draw. So many results are happening like that, where these young kids are playing really well, but in the end maybe they are not able to manage to get the full point. So if you have any suggestion for them on how to handle that pressure? You’re 21 now. Ten years ago, you were also the same age as Aarit is right now—11. So if you have any suggestion for the young players or young kids?
Praggnanandhaa: No, I think if there is some suggestion, I should take it, because lately I’ve been missing so many winning positions myself. But no, I think these things you just learn from experience. Like yesterday’s thing, I don’t think there were any mistakes that he made. It was just inexperience. Maybe he got too excited when he was playing and got the winning position, because he had like one hour on the clock. I guess the professional thing would be to sit there and spend five, ten minutes just to figure out the game and finish it off. But yeah, these are things you learn from experience. The more you play, the more you learn from all these things.
Devansh Singh: And about the playing thing, because I can see your schedule is super tight. This year you already performed really well. You won Norway Chess, you won the Grand Chess Tour. After that you played Clutch Chess. Now you are travelling to Tata Chess. One thing that is different in all these tournaments is the time control,Norway Chess is completely different from Tata Chess, where you are going to play 45+30. And I think this would be the first time that you'll be playing in that format, right? So how are you managing to play all these time controls?
Praggnanandhaa: Yeah, it’s interesting and also difficult. You have to adapt to every time control. Everything is unique, and they all have different formats. You have to adapt to it and play. I think as a professional, you have to be ready to play in any time control, any situation, any sort of thing.
For chess, I think we should have one time control, at least for the World Championship cycle. It would be better, and for people watching it might be easier to understand, because every tournament has a different time control. I make sure that before every tournament, I read the regulations properly, because it’s tricky. It’s not super easy to understand the format and everything.
It would be nice to have one format for the World Championship cycle. These different time controls also do excite some people and provide excitement, so it’s an interesting time in the chess world and we’ll see how it proceeds.
Devansh Singh: And about the chess world, there is one very big event upcoming this month, and it’s a match between Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov. One thing I was asking a lot of top players: Gukesh is posting more than usual. Recently he posted a picture with you, and you guys were there watching a movie, right? How is that going, and what’s your view on the match? And How was the movie?
Praggnanandhaa: It was great. It was a lot of fun. Coming back to the match, I think it’s going to be interesting. I’ve known both of them from a young age. I played my first game against Javokhir in 2013, and against Gukesh it was probably around the same time. I know both of them quite well. I’ve seen both of them from a young age, and this is the first match our generation is playing. The last match Gukesh played, Ding was there. This is the first match our generation is playing, so I’m looking forward to following it. It’s going to be really interesting. Obviously, Javokhir is coming from very good form, but I feel after the Olympiad Gukesh has also had some good results. He’s playing well and seems to be in good spirits. I think that’s extremely important.
Devansh Singh: So there is one thing, Pragg, that is a question from a lot of people: pressure, how to handle the pressure. From the outside, it looks like Gukesh was taking that extra pressure, and because of that, in the past some time his results were not top-notch. But again, in the Olympiad he played some good chess, and he also looked in great spirits. Right now you are India number one. Do you also feel some kind of pressure to stay there or something like that?
Praggnanandhaa: No, I think the world championship pressure is completely different, and I cannot answer it in any way because I haven’t experienced that. I cannot talk about something that I have no experience with.
I think pressure is always there, and we have to deal with it. But obviously, the match and the world champion crown have extra pressure and extra expectations that come with them.
For me, India number one: if you look back, Arjun was there maybe two months ago, Gukesh was there maybe six months back, and before that I was there. At this point, we are all used to it. I don’t think that gives us anything extra. Rating is something that goes up and down. It’s not really something I care about or pay too much attention to. If I play well, it will improve, and if I don’t, I will come down.
Devansh Singh: Okay, so yeah, thanks for your time, Pragg. A great event is going on right now, and I think you will be travelling day after tomorrow for Total Chess. All the best for that event, and I hope you’ll keep following this event. If we can make this event a tradition, hopefully we’ll see you also playing here in the upcoming years.
Praaggnanandhaa: Yes, Thank you.
