R Praggnanandhaa | |
---|---|
Full name | Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa |
Country | India |
Born | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India | 10 August 2005
Title | Grandmaster (2018) |
FIDE rating | 2737 (December 2024) |
Peak rating | 2757 (July 2024) |
Ranking | No. 17 (December 2024) |
Peak ranking | No. 8 (July 2024) |
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (born 10 August 2005), also known professionally as Pragg, is an Indian chess grandmaster. As of 2 September 2024, Praggnanandhaa is ranked 12th in the world by the International Chess Federation. [1] Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali are the first brother and sister to earn GM titles. [2] They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. [3]
Praggnanandhaa was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 10 August 2005. [4] His father, Rameshbabu, works as a branch manager at TNSC Bank, [5] and his mother, Nagalakshmi, is a homemaker who often accompanies Praggnanandhaa when he travels for tournaments. [6] His elder sister, Vaishali, is also a chess grandmaster. [7]
Aside from chess, Praggnanandhaa enjoys playing table tennis and watching cricket in his spare time. [8]
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. [9]
In 2016, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest international master in history, at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days. [10] [11] He achieved his first grandmaster norm at the World Junior Chess Championship in November 2017, finishing fourth with 8 points. [12]
He gained his second norm at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM norm tournament in Greece on 17 April 2018. [13] 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). [14] He is the sixth-youngest person ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM), behind Abhimanyu Mishra, [15] Karjakin, Gukesh Dommaraju, Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş, and Javokhir Sindarov. [16]
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. [17]
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. [18]
In July 2019, Praggnanandhaa won the Xtracon Chess Open in Denmark, scoring 8½/10 points (+7–0=3). [19] On 12 October 2019, he won the World Youth Championships in the Under-18 section with a score of 9/11. [20] In December 2019, he became the second-youngest person to achieve a rating of 2600. [21] 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. [22] He scored 15.5/19, 1.5 points ahead of the next best placed competitors. [23] 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. [24]
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.
He was part of India-2 team in the 44th Chess Olympiad, which went on to finish third and win the bronze medal.
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. [25] [26] The record has since broken by Gukesh D, on 16 October 2022. [27] [28]
At the Chessable Masters online rapid chess tournament in May 2022, he defeated Carlsen once again, his second win over him in three months, and advanced to the finals. [29] [30] [31]
He also defeated Carlsen three times in the FTX Crypto Cup 2022, finishing second behind Carlsen in the final standings. [32]
In January 2023, Praggnanandhaa played in the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2023. He defeated a 2800-rated grandmaster, Ding Liren, his first time playing, so in a classical game. [33] He ended the tournament in 9th place with a score of 6/13. [34]
In the Chess World Cup 2023, 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa became the world's youngest player to reach the Chess World Cup final, defeating [35] Fabiano Caruana in tie-breaks in the semi-final. He also became the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to reach the final in Chess World Cup history. His play [36] against former classical World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the final resulted in a defeat in the rapid tie-breaks, securing him second place and qualification for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. He was seconded during that tournament by Russian grandmaster Peter Svidler. [37]
Praggnanandhaa placed 5th out of 8 participants in the 2024 Candidates Tournament, getting 7 points out of 14. Additionally, in the 3rd round of the Norway Chess 2024 tournament, he defeated Magnus Carlsen for the first time in a classical 'over the board' match. [38] At the 45th Chess Olympiad in September 2024, Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali were part of the Indian teams which went on to win gold medals in the Open section and Women's section respectively. [39]
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Champion, the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world. His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games.
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess grandmaster, streamer, YouTuber, five-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the reigning World Fischer Random Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 15, the youngest American at the time to do so. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history.
Anish Kumar Giri is a Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the grandmaster title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days. Giri is a five-time Dutch champion and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has represented the Netherlands at seven Chess Olympiads. He has also won major international tournaments, including the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament, 2017 Reykjavik Open, 2023 Tata Steel Chess, and shared 1st place in the 2015 London Chess Classic. In 2019 he won clear first at the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters.
Lê Quang Liêm is a Vietnamese chess grandmaster, the top-ranked of his country. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006. Liêm won the Asian Chess Championship in 2019 and was the World Blitz Chess Champion in 2013.
Ding Liren is a Chinese chess grandmaster who was the 17th World Chess Champion from 2023–24. He is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion and was a member of the Chinese chess teams that have won the Chess Olympiads in 2014 and 2018. Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and first Chinese player to pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings. In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest-rated Blitz player in the world. In July 2023, Ding became the No. 1 ranked Rapid player, with a rating of 2830. He achieved his highest classical rating of 2816 in November 2018 and a peak classical ranking of No.2 in November 2021 behind Magnus Carlsen.
Richárd Rapport is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 11 months, and six days, making him Hungary's youngest ever grandmaster. He was the Hungarian Chess Champion in 2017 and was the fifth-rated player in the world in May 2022.
Vidit Gujrathi is an Indian chess grandmaster. He is a double gold medalist at the Olympiad. He is also a silver medalist at the Asian Games. Gujrathi attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating of 2700. He became the third Indian to qualify for the Candidates tournament by winning Grand Swiss 2023.
Nihal Sarin is an Indian chess grandmaster and chess prodigy. In 2018, he passed the Elo rating of 2600 at 14 years old, which at the time made him the third youngest player in history to do so.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov is an Uzbek chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he qualified for the grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days. FIDE awarded him the title in April 2018. He is Uzbekistan's highest-rated grandmaster and currently one of the best chess players in the world.
Vaishali Rameshbabu is an Indian chess grandmaster. Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa are the first brother-sister duo to earn GM titles. They are also the first brother-sister duo to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.
Alireza Firouzja is an Iranian-French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2800, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months.
Gukesh Dommaraju, also known as Gukesh D, is an Indian chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, Gukesh is the youngest undisputed world champion, the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2750, doing so at the age of 17, and the third-youngest to have surpassed 2700 Elo at the age of 16. He earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 12 and remains the third-youngest grandmaster in chess.
Abhimanyu Mishra is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he holds the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days.
Pallathur Venkatachalam Nandhidhaa is an Indian chess player from the state of Tamilnadu, who holds the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and Woman International Master (WIM). She is the 17th Woman Grandmaster of India. Her peak FIDE ELO rating is 2380 and she is holding 8 International Master norms as of April 2024. She is the reigning Nationals Women Chess Champion in 2024.
Hans Moke Niemann is an American chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer. He first entered the top 100 junior players list on March 1, 2019, and became a FIDE grandmaster on January 22, 2021. In July 2021, he won the World Open chess tournament in Philadelphia. He had a peak global ranking of No. 16 in September 2024.
Arjun Kalyan, is an Indian chess player. He has the title of Grandmaster, which FIDE awarded him in April 2021.
The open event at the 44th Chess Olympiad was held from 29 July to 9 August 2022. It was contested by a record number of 188 teams, representing 186 nations. India, as host nation, fielded three teams. A total of 937 players participated in the open event.
The 2024 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament, held to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2024. The tournament took place at The Great Hall in Toronto, Canada, from April 3–22, 2024. The event was held alongside the Women's Candidates Tournament. The event was won by Gukesh Dommaraju, which made him the youngest ever winner of a Candidates Tournament, and the youngest ever World Chess Championship challenger. Following the Event Gukesh went on to become the youngest World Champion by defeating Ding Liren in the 14th round of Classical Chess.
Gukesh Dommaraju won the 2024 World Chess Championship, becoming the youngest undisputed world chess champion at the age of 18.