Life is not just about talent; circumstances, environment, timing and an umpteen number of other factors are all at work to create heroes for us. Regular readers of The Teenager Today may like to refresh their memories about the August 2018 issue of the magazine which carried an article on our chess prodigy, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. At the age of 10 years, 10 months and 11 days, he became the world’s youngest International Chess Master, but in the absence of more tournaments, he had to wait till he was 12 years, 10 months and 13 days to become a Grand Master.

India was blessed with another chess prodigy in Gukesh Dommaraju who, in 2019, at the age of 12 years, 7 months and 17 days, emerged as the world’s second youngest-ever chess Grand Master, falling short by just seventeen days to equal Sergey Karjakin’s record. In 2021, however, Gukesh slipped to third place among the youngest Grand Masters when American chess prodigy Abhimanyu Mishra broke Sergey’s 22-year-old record to become the youngest chess Grand Master at the age of 10 years, 10 months and 11 days; unbelievable but true!

Gukesh, however, holds some world records against his name. Although he is the third youngest to achieve an ELO rating of 2700 (September 2022), he is the youngest ever to reach 2750 (August 2023), and now to top it all, he is the youngest ever to win the FIDE Candidates Tournament and become eligible to compete for the World Chess Championship.

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A 17-year-old Indian kid took the chess world by storm when he outsmarted the reigning multi-time world champion Magnus Carlsen at the Airthings Masters Chess Tournament 2022. Praggnanandhaa, popularly known as Pragg, is an Indian chess prodigy and grandmaster who has been making history ever since he placed his hand on a chessboard.

Born Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa on 10 August 2005 in Chennai, he is the son of Rameshbabu, a bank employee, and Nagalakshmi, a homemaker. Pragg’s interest in chess was sparked when his parents were trying to get his sister (Vaishali) away from the TV by luring her to play chess. The three-year-old boy was slowly hooked onto the game, and Vaishali began to teach him the moves. Soon, the duo took up chess seriously and started competing.

At an age when most kids are classified as toddlers, Pragg made chess his life’s calling, picking up the nuances of the game. Realising their son’s passion, his family enrolled him in a chess academy. Soon, setting records in chess became second nature for him.

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If you have not taken note of the name Praggnanandhaa R. in recent times, it is time to pay more attention to him, at least in the future. Having won the under 8 and under 10 world chess championships in the past, his name is no longer restricted to the kids’ world. In fact, Praggnanandhaa, or Praggu for short, is a growing challenge in the chess world of adults.

Coming from a modest family, Praggu came into the limelight when at the tender age of 10 years, 10 months and 11 days, he became the world’s youngest International Master, thereby, erasing the name of Russia’s Judit Polgar from the record books who had become an IM at the age of 11 years — a record that had stood for 27 years. Having achieved two International Master norms at Cannes and Moscow, Praggu earned the unique distinction when he achieved his third and final International Master norm at Bhuvaneshwar. However, till date, Ukraine’s Sergey still holds the record for being the youngest Grand Master at the age of 12 years and 7 months.

On entering the race for the youngest Grand Master, Praggu had two names ahead of him. The first was to better the Indian record of 13 years 4 months and 22 days set up by Parimarjan Negi in 2006 and just ahead on the list was the Sergey Karjakin whose record had remained unchallenged since 2002. So the twelve and a quarter-year-old set course, in 2017, on a one and a half month, three-nation tour of Australia, Sweden and the USA to compete in as many Grand Master norm tournaments before attaining the age of 12 years and 7 months.

10 March 2018 was the deadline for Praggananandhaa to become the youngest-ever Grand Master. While he failed to make the deadline, he had his date with the honour when he did become a Grand Master on 24 June 2018 at the age of 12 years 10 months and 13 days to become the second youngest-ever and youngest-ever Indian to become a chess Grand Master. He became one when he defeated GM Moroni Luca Jr. in round 8 of the 4th Gredine Open, in Italy. Praggu finished in the second position in the event after defeating GM Roeland Pruijssers in the 9th round.

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