R Praggnanandhaa in action against Magnus Carlsen in the final of the Chess World Cup.© Twitter
Indian sport has a new hero – R Praggnanandhaa. The 18-year-old from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, went down fighting valiantly to world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the final of the Chess World Cup. But in entering the final, Praggnanandhaa captured the imagination of the country by becoming the first chess player after the great Viswanathan Anand to enter the final of the global event. Though, the Indian teenager lost to a much heavyweight name, he can keep his chin up as he beat higher-ranked opponents – world no. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and no. 3 Fabiano Caruana – on his way to enter the Chess World Cup final. By winning the silver medal, Praggnanandhaa also secured a ticket to the FIDE Candidates tournament.
After the Chess World Cup Final, Praggnanandhaa talked to NDTV and revealed the name of the person who inspired him to take up chess. Surprisingly, it’s not any big chess player who inspired Praggnanandhaa. The person is his sister Vaishali, who is herself a very good player of the game.
“I came to chess because of her. We help each other in chess preparations. We discuss the game a lot. It benefits both of us,” Praggnanandhaa told NDTV.
On her part, Vaishali revealed that their mother Nagalakshmi has been a source of inspiration for both. “Mother has been a big support for us. She goes to the places where we play. It is not easy. Big thanks to our mother,” Vaishali told NDTV.
Praggnanandhaa’s mother accompanied him at the Chess World Cup. Though Praggnanandhaa finished runner-up at the 2023 FIDE World Cup, he will draw hope from the fact that he has qualified for the FIDE Candidates tournament.
The 2024 Candidates Tournament will be an eight-player chess tournament scheduled to be held from April 2 to April 25 2024 in Toronto, Canada. The winner of the tournament will become the challenger for the 2024 World Chess Championship match.
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