R Praggnanandhaa – A Chess Prodigy

“Your example shows how India’s youth can conquer any domain.” India’s prime minister Narendra Modi celebrated an 18-year-old chess grandmaster with these words earlier this month. R Praggnanandhaa, rising Indian chess prodigy popularly known as Pragg, made history yet again by earning the silver medal at the 2023 FIDE World Cup, in Baku, Azerbaijan. India’s 1.3 billion people celebrated his recent success as their own.

Pragg, a native of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title in 2013, earning his first FIDE Master title. In 2016 at age 10, Pragg became the youngest International Master in the history of the game. Two years later, in 2018, he had become the world’s then second-youngest chess grandmaster. India now has 82 chess grandmasters and only two of them are women.

What does it take to be a grandmaster of chess? According to Chess.com, 12,480 hours is the estimate for a threshold of effort to become a grandmaster-level expert in chess. Grandmasters need to demonstrate their skill in multiple tournaments, and these tournaments must be international; another requirement of being a grandmaster is success against chess grandmasters from countries other than the applicant’s own. There are nearly 2,000 chess grandmasters from around the world, and they represent nearly every country on the map. Chess cannot be memorized; it must be practiced, and algorithms studied and perfected. It takes an astonishing degree of perseverance and skill to become an expert at chess, and to win against other experts.

         “He’s exceptionally talented, very hardworking, and ambitious. It’s a rare combination,” stated Pragg’s chess coach. His growth and success on the international stage has been very steady. In 2019, he won the Extracon Chess Open in Denmark, the World Youth Championships and became the second youngest to achieve a rating of 2600. In 2021, he won the Polgar Challenge. In February 2022 at the Airthings Masters, Pragg defeated the highest-ranking chess player in the world, Magnus Carlsen. Attention to his latest big win was bought by his exceptional performance in the World Cup 2023 final. Pragg defeated World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana in the semifinal to face the No. 1-ranked Magnus Carlsen in the final. He ended up with the runner-up trophy, but experts have highlighted his grit and magnificent performances throughout the tournament. He is certainly an awesome testament to the accomplishment hard work can bring!