Aravindh Wins His 2nd Super Tournament Title

Roughly a decade ago, a teenage Aravindh Chithambaram was regarded as the most promising young Indian chess player on the horizon.

- Susan Ninan

BENGALURU: As the years passed, younger, stronger Indian players emerged, and little was heard of Aravindh.

At 25, Aravindh is trying to make up for lost time. On Friday, he won the Prague Masters with an undefeated 6/9 score, three wins and six draws in a tough field. It was only his second classical super tournament (after Chennai Grand Masters last year) and he has won both.

Going into Friday's final round, it was between Aravindh and fellow Indian and academy mate, R Praggnanandhaa. Wei Yi had an outside chance to spoil the all-Indian party and make it to the tiebreaks, but that never happened. Giri dismantled Praggnanandhaa and all Aravindh needed was a draw against 16-year-old Turkish prodigy Ediz Gurel to win the title. Aravindh surpassed Viswanathan Anand on the live ratings and is now placed at No.14 with Elo 2743, the fourth-highest ranked Indian after Gukesh D, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa.