What’s the big deal about this kid?

For Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa aka Pragg, it all started at the tender age of six:

• In 2012, he came second in the under-seven Indian championship—before going on to win the gold at the Asian Championships.
• The next year, the seven-year-old won the World Youth Chess under-eight title—and in 2015, the under-10 World Youth Chess Championship title. 
• In 2016, he created history by becoming the youngest international chess master at the age of 10 years, 10 months and 19 days.
• But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. It took Pragg two years to reach the highest level of Grandmaster—and the pressure began to tell. He lost six of nine games at a Dutch tournament—finishing second from the bottom.
• He finally became Grandmaster in 2018 at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 13 days. Pragg missed breaking the record held by Sergey Karjakin as the youngest Grandmaster by just three months. 

After Pragg became Grandmaster, he received a hero’s welcome at his school in Chennai:

Beating #1: The sixteen year old scored his most spectacular win in February this year—when he beat 31-year-old Magnus Carlsen who is a five-time world champion and the #1 player in the world. He became the youngest player to ever do so—and third Indian Grandmaster to win against the Norwegian after Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna. The win won widespread praise—including from the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and PM Modi. 

Pragg’s immediate response to his achievement on that big night: “I think it's about just going to bed. It's about time to go to bed, as I don't think I will have dinner at 2:30 in the morning.” He also said: 

“Even if I had time, I don't think I would have celebrated because usually I don't celebrate things too much because, OK, this is just a win… so it's not like the end of something. And I think same goes to a loss. If you lose a game, it's not like the end.”

Beating #1 again: On Friday, Pragg beat Carlsen once again at an online rapid chess tournament—mostly due to a blunder by his opponent. Pragg said afterwards: “I do not want to win that way!" The winner himself was a little distracted—as he was taking his school exams during the event: “I’m not so thrilled about my game quality. I’m missing some stuff, some tricks, and some tactics so I need to be sharper.” Yeah, he’s that kind of kid. 

The missing feather: in Pragg’s cap is the World Junior Championship— which “is easily the most important of all the age-group tournaments.” Previous winners include Russians Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Boris Spassky as well as Viswanathan Anand—all of whom have gone on to win the World title.

Who is this superstar kid?

The name: As Indian chess star Viswanathan Anand notes, Pragg’s name evokes immediate curiosity: “He's one of the Indians who fascinate people across the world simply because of his name. They all spend so much time trying to pronounce it and also I think people are genuinely curious about him.” But even his family doesn’t know what 'Praggnanandhaa' means—as it was suggested by a priest at their family temple. 

The family: Pragg belongs to a middle class family from Chennai. His mother is a homemaker while his father is a branch manager at the Tamil Nadu State Cooperative Bank. His sister Vaishali too is a chess prodigy (more on her in a bit)—which put huge financial pressure on the family. His father Rameshbabu says he seriously considered pulling the kids out of chess: “I have had to withdraw money heavily from my savings, and then I found that there was simply no way for me to fund the careers of my children.” Luckily, The All India Chess Federation finally came to the rescue. 

Of his immensely talented children, Rameshbabu says: “We know nothing about chess…For us, it doesn't matter whether they are Grandmasters or International Masters. We are just happy that they enjoy what they do.”

Below is his mother Nagalakshmi with both kids:

A lovely side-story: Since Rameshbabu has a day job, Nagalakshmi accompanies her children around the world for their tournaments. And she has her own very Indian hack to avoid paying for expensive hotel food—lugging a rice cooker with her everywhere:

“Food is too expensive abroad. I cook for them inside the hotel room: curd rice, sambar rice, rasam rice, whatever can be managed. Ithuverekum nange hotelil maatikele (Luckily, we haven't been caught by hotels so far).”

But those days may soon come to an end. On the advice of his hero Viswanathan Anand, Pragg is determined to try new cuisines. FYI, this is the photo Pragg tweeted out on Anand’s birthday:

As a bonus, here’s a photo of Pragg playing cricket with fellow Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram in a hotel room:

Also this: While Nagalakshmi goes globe-trotting with the children, Rameshbabu tends to the home all alone: “I have to wash my own clothes. We rarely celebrate any festivals together. We already missed Deepavali, now Pongal too. But we have to make those sacrifices. There's no other way out.”

The overshadowed chess queen: Behind Pragg’s rocketing success is the poignant tale of an overshadowed elder sibling. The parents first introduced Vaishali to chess—to wean her away from TV cartoons. And Pragg learned the sport by watching her play as a three-year-old. But as she now admits, her younger brother soon proved to be more precocious of the two:

“At 10, he became stronger than me, became the youngest International Master in the world… That’s when he got really strong. He is very talented and hardworking. We used to have a lot of fights initially when he started beating me.”

While she was initially upset at being outshone, Vaishali is now working towards becoming a Grandmaster in her own right—with the dutiful support of Pragg. The 20-year-old says:

“Becoming a GM is tough, that’s why there are only two women who are Grandmasters in India. Chess-wise, he teaches me a lot of things. I can easily discuss anything with him. And since he plays GM-level players, he knows how they think, that way he helps me.”

Key point to note: Vaishali in turn plays a critical role in training Pragg, as his coach RB Ramesh acknowledges: “She has played a role in Praggnanandhaa’s career. It is great if you have another quality player at home as you grow up.”

The coach: The guru behind Pragg’s success is Ramachandran Ramesh or RB Ramesh. Considered one of India’s sharpest tactical players, he quit his public-sector job and became a full-time coach—starting the Chess Gurukul in Chennai in 2008—and which is now considered “India’s finest chess nurseries.” He has trained at least a dozen of India’s Grandmasters—and the close bond with Pragg is apparent in many of their photos together:

The bottomline: Asked about his ambitions, Pragg says simply: “I want to be a world champion...the highest rated player.” We’re all hoping that dream comes true.

Reading list

ESPN and Sportstar have the best—if slightly dated—profiles of Pragg and his family. Indian Express focuses on his relationship with his role model Anand—and his view of Pragg. Deccan Herald and The Hindu have more on his sister Vaishali—and her role in his career. Mumbai Mirror looks at the perils of being a prodigy. Firstpost has a nice interview with Pragg where he shares his love for curd rice.