Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he became an international master at the age of 10, the youngest at the time to do so, and a grandmaster at the age of 12, the second-youngest at the time to do so. On 22 February 2022, at the age of 16, he became the youngest player to defeat then-world champion Magnus Carlsen, when he beat Carlsen in a rapid game at the Airthings Masters Rapid Chess Tournament (a record since broken by Gukesh D, on 16 October 2022).

Personal life

Praggnanandhaa was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on 10 August 2005.[31] His father, Rameshbabu, works as a branch manager at TNSC Bank,[32] and his mother, Nagalakshmi, is a homemaker who often accompanies him at national and international competitions.[33] He attended Velammal Main Campus in Chennai.[34] He is the younger sibling of Woman Grandmaster and International Master R. Vaishali.

Chess career

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.nHe achieved his first grandmaster norm at the World Junior Chess Championship in November 2017, finishing fourth with 8 points. 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 fifth-youngest person ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM), behind Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D, 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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

At the Chessable Masters online rapid chess tournament in May 2022, he defeated Carlsen once again, his second win over him in 3 months, and advanced to the finals.

He also defeated Carlsen 3 times in the FTX Crypto Cup 2022, finishing second behind Carlsen in the final standings.

In January 2023, Praggnanandhaa played in the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2023. He defeated a 2800-rated grandmaster, Ding Liren, his first time doing 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 India's youngest player to reach the Chess World Cup final. Praggnanandhaa defeated Fabiano Caruana in tie-breaks in semi-final of Chess World Cup 2023. He has also become the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to reach final in Chess World Cup history. He will play[30] former classical World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the final.

Youngest International Master

Previous record was held by Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, he was 12 years 7 months old when he had attained the title of international master. He reduced the previous record by almost 2 years, quite a record considering there wasn't more than 6-7 months in between the previous records. The great Magnus Carlsen was 13 years 4 months old when he became an international master.

Interesting Facts & Trivia

• His elder sister Vaishali is also a chess player and is a two time youth chess champion.
• He and his sister rarely play against each other, they are very competitive and their parents don't want them to fight.
• His parents did noit want Praggna to become a chess player, Vaishali was already a player and the family couldn't afford the expenses of two.
• Praggnanandhaa practices for 4-5 hours a day.
• He learned Chess at the age of 5
• Coach: Praggnanandhaa is coached by RB Ramesh. R.B Ramesh is a former champion, he had won British Championship in 2002 & Commonwealth Championship in 2007. His chess school is called "Chess Gurukul". Ramesh's wife Aarthie Ramaswamy is a Grand Master as well. Ramesh and Aarthie are the first Grand master couple of India. Chithambaram Aravindh is another prodigy from the Gurukul
• Praggnanandha wants to score 3000 points, a feat in chess even the greats have not achieved so far.
• Praggnanandha's role model Vishwanathan Anand in an interview was all praises for Praggnanadha
• Praggna is a very rooted child, he visits his grandmother often and goes to temple to celebrate his wins.
• Heroes of Chennai: He was nominated for the "Heroes of Chennai" award in the sports category
• Kerala Floods Donation: Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali donated 10000 INR each towards the flood relief fund
• Vishwanathan Anand after observing Praggnanadhaa's game said- “What impresses me about Praggnanandhaa is that he's not just a strong player but mixes imaginative middle game play with patient endgame skills and is uncompromising in not settling for easy, quick draws”
• Home food: Whenever he goes out to play in the international tournaments, his mother accompanies him, she cooks him South Indian home food for the lunch whereever they are.
• 2020 Young Athlete of the Year: Praggnanandhaa won the 2020 award gvien by Sportstar Aces