Not totally surprising that a person named Praggnanandhaa (let’s call him Prag henceforth) is giving joy to millions of chess followers, majority of them Indians, through his imagination, intelligence and giant-killing run in the World Cup.
Prag celebrated his 18th birthday at the ongoing event in Baku.A minor challenger turning a major threat as he has reached the title clash.When the Chennai lad, from the stable of coach RB Ramesh, became the then youngest ever International Master (IM) aged 10 years 10 months and 19 days in 2016, expecting greatness from him was not out of order. But then, the talent if not groomed properly, can go haywire. Spotlight can do funny things to delicate minds.
In hindsight, Prag not becoming the youngest ever GM was a blessing in disguise. Steady progress is always more long-lasting than faster growth, though it has its own heartburn.
Timing is everything in life. And sport cannot be an exception to it. The simmering chess boom in India was given a boost by the pandemic situation that opened competitive chess online, allowing youngsters to rub shoulders with the elite players and win huge prize money. The Ukraine war brought Olympiad from Russia to India and the mentoring from the best in the business – Viswanathan Anand’s Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) – also happened around the same time. The stars were clearly aligned.
When Anand came under the spotlight in the late 80s, he was the lone Indian. Prag had many more Indians for company. The focus was not entirely on him. That must have helped, including in this knockout World Cup. Pairing against close friend Arjun Erigaisi to seal the semis spot and with that virtually sealing the Candidates spot must have helped too. When a battle is between the two Indians with one’s progress assured, a weight of nation’s expectations is almost taken out of the window.
When you hunt in a group, you are more likely to succeed. Chinese badminton players and table tennis players did that.
Yes, chess is an individual game. But players train together and take each other’s help. Relations like seconds, trainers, playing partners, advisors are formed while chasing excellence and favourable results in the cerebral sport.
Former seven-time national champion Pravin Thipsay believes that the Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram last year was a watershed moment in the evolution of the 64-square game in India.
“When you see the younger Indian team (Gukesh, Prag, Nihal Sarin, B Adhiban, Raunak Sadhwani) finishing higher than the more experienced lot (P Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, SL Narayanan, K Saskiran and Erigaisi Arjun) and 14th seed Uzbekistan winning the team gold medal, it makes a huge impact on the belief system of the players,” Thipsay told TOI.
The Olympiad and the camps associated with it also gave a sense of team spirit to a majority of core Indian talent. Confidence is a performance-enhancing drug which can be detected in your breathing pattern.
Women’s No. 1 Hou Yifan of China says “winning” doesn’t equate to “dominance”. Indeed, a very few world chess champions managed to create an aura about them due to their undoubted superiority over the rest of field. Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen certainly belong to this rarest breed.
Carlsen had quipped recently: “Confidence is difficult to gain and easy to lose.”
Many strong chess players accept that even before facing Carlsen over the board, they are scared, feel inferior and lost in spirit. Imagine Prag’s confidence level as he has defeated Carlsen five times, albeit only in shorter time controls or online chess and never in the standard time control, loosely referred to as the classical format.
It also helps that Carlsen and Prag were team-mates during the recent Global Chess League in Dubai playing for Alpine Warriors. Even D Gukesh and Arjun were a part of the same team. The experience that they have got from picking the brains of a player who is No. 1 for 12 successive years has been invaluable.
Prag is not a strong, ruthless personality going by the body language. But like the original Madras Tiger (V Anand) he can be quite mean on the board. Unless you know Prag well, you can’t judge his feelings/mood. And chess players rely on clues over the board to understand the game situation better. They don’t have the aid of computer engines like ‘armchair experts’.
Keeping an impregnable face comes naturally to Prag. And that’s a huge asset in this sport which thrives on psychology.
The family support to Prag has been invaluable. Kasparov and Anand have openly talked about the huge contribution from their mothers in their progress. World champion Ding Liren’s mother, whose presence motivated him during his winning campaign, is a nurse.
And Prag’s mom Nagalakshmi had two chess kids to deal with. Prag’s sister R Vaishali is an International Master (IM).
Players go through huge ups and downs in knockout events. Either a single wrong/unwanted word or exaggerated silence from the near ones can put the players off or make them lose focus.
There is a picture of Prag’s mom during the ongoing World Cup in Baku. The spectators are waiting to see players (including her son) as they are about to enter the playing hall from their enclosure. And there she is, waiting to get a last glimpse of her son before he goes into the battlefield.
The picture depicts a concerned, yet confident and determined woman – standing away from the spotlight. A story goes of Tiger Woods’ dad standing among the spectators as his son was about to land on the golf course to tee off during a major. They didn’t even make eye contact. Such was Tiger’s focus. And his dad was fine with it.
Even Kasparov is keeping an eye on the chemistry between Prag and his mom which is being tweeted through pictures.
The Russian legend tweeted: “Congrats to @rpragchess—and to his mother. As someone whose proud mama accompanied me to every event, it’s a special kind of support! The Chennai Indian defeated two New York cowboys! He has been very tenacious in difficult positions.”
Kasparov is referring to Prag knocking out Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana who are more experienced and deemed stronger.
Despite his highly creditable run to the final, Prag is not yet a fearsome player in classical chess. His opening repertoire is not fully loaded yet. And let us not forget that he is not a national champion yet.
Thankfully, even Prag is aware that he has enjoyed some lucky breaks and there is a lot of work to be done before he can be a serious contender for the World Championship. But there is no denying that he is top-notch blitz, rapid and online player in which mistakes happen more frequently from both sides.
In January 2016, he was rated Elo 2177. Exactly a year later, he was an IM rated 2437. After being at 2608 in Jan 2021, the pandemic-induced break reduced his classical activity. But he has still added 100-plus more points in less than three years playing just over 200 games.
The current wave in Indian chess and the wind that Prag has got just indicates that the possibilities are limitless.
Watch Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa stuns Caruana, set to clash with Carlsen in final