Last year
The world’s second youngest chess Grandmaster and India’s first — at 12 years 10 months and 13 days — is still a child at heart.
His father told ESPN that Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa’s maturity “is only in the game” and the 12-year-old still watches cartoons and races his muddied bike when he is not competing in chess tournaments.
Praggnanandhaa won the title at an event in northern Italy that ended on Sunday.
“What impresses me about Praggnanandhaa is that he’s not just a strong player but mixes imaginative middle game play with patient endgame skills and is uncompromising in not settling for easy, quick-draws,” former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand told ESPN.
“He’s also shown a level of sophistication in handling tournament games. I think he will go far.”
Last year, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest International Master in the history of chess at the age of 10 years and nine months.
His coach, RB Ramesh, told ESPN that the tangible benefits of being India’s youngest Grandmaster will not only bring greater expectations, “but it could also bring more sponsor support.”
“The passion in him to play chess was unstoppable, I had to give in and put him in coaching classes. And he has been unstoppable since,” Praggnanandhaa’s father told the media.
At the age of six, The News Minute reported, Praggnanandhaa came second in the under-eight national championships.
Praggnanandhaa started playing chess at the age of four and now spends up to six hours a day practising chess and watching past matches online.
The youngest Grandmaster is Ukraine’s Sergey Karjakin who assumed the title at 12 years and seven months in 2002.