![]() Louis and subsequently withdrew from the tournament. Case in point: It was shocking to avid chess observers when world chess champion Magnus Carlsen lost his third match last week at the Sinquefield Cup in St. These days, even the game’s often-technical controversies now command a wider audience, and tend to escalate. And now that many of the game’s top players stream on Twitch, they’re much more accessible to viewers everywhere. Though competitive chess remains a niche sport, it’s become more familiar to the larger public in recent years, thanks to lockdown-fueled online matchups and the megapopularity of The Queen’s Gambit. It will stop a lot of fishy things.Competitive chess is being rocked by its biggest scandal in 16 years, an epic saga that encompasses the game’s most famous players, a prestigious tournament, something called the “Fianchetto Variation,” and maybe, possibly, sex toys. It may be a good thing that he (Carlsen) brought up. So I’ve never really focused on it,” he said. What will happen in the worst case? I’ll lose. Even if they cheat against me in an online game, I don’t care. With the Carlsen-Hans Niemann cheating row taking centre stage in world chess, Praggnanandhaa believed it might be a good thing but hoped it would reach a logical conclusion. ![]() It’s important to have such a bunch of players together because, if one player does well, the other will get inspired.” The Chess Olympiad Indian team that clinched bronze comprised Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and Raunak Sadhwani, all in their teens. The success of fellow Indians of his age group too rubs off on Praggnanandhaa. Like on openings, because these top guys are very good at openings and also understanding them. “With Ramesh sir, it’s mostly about working on what’s going wrong and improving there. You can’t have classes every day, and you also have to be sharp,” he said. However, self-learning is a big part in the Praggnanandhaa developmental process. Hopefully, I get more invitations to play stronger events and then graduate to the next stage.”Īlong with coach RB Ramesh, he spends hours “analysing my games, try to see what’s going wrong, find a pattern and work on it”. It’s currently at 2687, but I think it can be higher. “My (FIDE) rating is slowly getting there. His rise may have been expectedly swift, but Praggnanandhaa knows there’s “a lot to improve”, especially in the classical format and on the finer aspects of the game, like expanding his repertoire in openings. I just try not to think too much about the game. “In general, I’m very good at taking losses. That’s his way of celebrating, while he turns to watching comedy movies as distraction after tough defeats. It’s tough, but somehow I managed to do it thrice.”Īll Praggnanandhaa wanted to do was hit the bed after the first win over the Norwegian. “He’s just too strong, and if everyone talks about it (beating him), he is not going to allow it again easily. “Beating him even in a single bullet game is tough,” he chuckled. Not that it gets any easier after the first crack. He has already broken through the Carlsen citadel, thrice at that. “It’s one of those stages where you’re almost there in elite chess,” he said. Praggnanandhaa termed his current phase “maturing as a chess player”. Among his notable results are beating the reigning five-time world champion thrice in online events this year, defeating world No 7 Anish Giri of Netherlands, being part of the India’s bronze-winning team at the 2022 Chess Olympiad and giving a fight to Chinese world No 2 Ding Liren in the Chessable Masters final. It’s been a good few months for the Chennai player. “In a larger sense, it’s good for the game in India.” “I mean, more people have got to know about me,” the soft-spoken Praggnanandhaa said on the sidelines of the event by Julius Baer India. But when you beat Carlsen thrice within months, it is bound to happen. The young Indian Grandmaster (GM) may not be as used to this kind of spotlight as he is to winning games of chess.
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