Indian Chess Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is set for a much-anticipated final with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the FIDE World Cup 2023
18-year-old Praggnanandhaa defeated 31-year-old USA’s Fabiano Caruana in tiebreaks of semi-final encounter. Praggnanandhaa defeated Caruana by winning the semi-final 3.5-2.5 in Baku, Azerbaijan. With this Praggnanandhaa has also sealed his spot in the 8-player chess event Candidates Tournament 2024
Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand also praised Praggnanandhaa as he wrote on X (Twitter), “Pragg goes through to the final! He beats Fabiano Caruana in the tiebreak and will face Magnus Carlsen now. What a performance!”
Praggnanandhaa is the third youngest player after legendary Bobby Fischer and current World No.1 Carlsen to qualify for the Candidates tournament. Born in Chennai, Praggnanandhaa is the younger brother of Rameshbabu Vaishali, who is herself a FIDE International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM)
Praggnanandhaa became an international master at the age of 10 and a grandmaster at the age of 12. At the age of 16, he became the youngest player to defeat the then-world champion Magnus Carlsen. Though, in 2022, Gukesh D became the youngest player to beat Magnus in the Aimchess Rapid tournament
Both the siblings Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali were inclined towards playing chess and started receiving formal training at an early age. Vaishali won the Girls' World Youth Chess Championship for Under-12s in 2012 and Under-14s in 2015. In 2016, she won the Woman International Master (WIM) title
Vaishali was part of the Gold medal-winning team at the Online Olympiad 2020 and was awarded the title of International Master in 2021. She later won the FIDE Women's Speed Chess Championship 2022 after defeating Bibisara Assaubayeva
Praggnanandhaa reached the 2600 mark in the ELO rating at the age of 14, once again a world record at the time. Called a child prodigy, Praggnanandhaa has been trained under Indian Chess Grandmaster Ramachandran Ramesh. Ramesh is married to WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy and they are referred to as India's first Grandmaster couple
Coach Ramesh sent his best wishes to Praggnanandhaa as he wrote on X (Twitter), “Irrespective of what happens in the finals of the World Cup, I wanted to highlight the contributions of various people behind him - his parents, sister Vaishali, his coaches from Bloom chess academy, especially Thiagu Sir.” He also thanked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Vishwanathan Anand and his wife Aruna Anand
Praggnanandhaa who is fondly called Pragg has been awarded with the Arjuna Award for chess