With win over Ding, Pragg underlines special talent

He becomes the first Indian after Anand to beat a reigning world champion in the classical format

- Susan Ninan

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa must be used to living in the headlines now.

In the last six months, the 18-year-old Indian has had a whirlwind run of classical chess successes. He finished runners-up at the World Cup, secured a Candidates spot, and most recently, defeated a reigning world champion at the Tata Steel Chess to become the No. 1 Indian player on the live ratings, surpassing Viswanathan Anand.

He spent the tournament rest day playing a football friendly in the windswept North Sea village of Wijk Aan Zee.

Among the current Indian crop of prodigies, it was Praggnanandhaa who first showed up on the horizon the then youngest International Master, second-youngest GM. Gukesh arrived soon after, broke Praggnanandhaa's GM record, had a near-flawless 2022 Olympiad run and became the only Indian player to go past five-time world champion Anand in the published ratings last year. Both Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, apart in age by a year, will play the Candidates in April this year and any belief that they can carry from this tournament will be a bonus. The tussle between both to get ahead, lead the India rankings, bring home the bigger results, brings the contest alive.

Less than 20 days into the year and Praggnanandhaa is faring well.