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Everything looks smooth but it wasn’t the case: Pragg
The Indian grandmaster turned in a classy performance to win the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz with a round to spar
Bengaluru: Praggnanandhaa is wrapping up interviews after winning the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz.
Within earshot is his older sister, Vaishali, the Rameshbabu family’s other grandmaster and a contender in next year’s Women’s World Championship.
Usually, their mother, Nagalakshmi, accompanies Praggnanandhaa to tournaments. This time, with Nagalakshmi unable to travel, Vaishali arrived a week early ahead of the Cairns Cup, the strongest invitational women’s tournament in the US, which begins in Saint Louis on August 8.
Asked how his sister’s presence helped during the tournament in the American Midwest city, Praggnanandhaa grins and slips into familiar sibling banter. “Maybe we should kick her out before I answer.”
Then comes the earnest reply.
“I usually have my mother here. But this time she had some work, so my sister accompanied me. It’s good to have someone who understands chess…like when you make some mistakes you can go back…basically it’s a lot easier to talk about the game. So, it’s great to have her,” he offered.
The Indian grandmaster turned in a classy performance, leading from start to finish, to win the tournament with a round to spare. It included managing to hold a pawn-down endgame against World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov in the penultimate round. It was a fairly stacked field with three of the world’s top five players – Fabiano Caruana, Sindarov and Vincent Keymer, in it.
The tournament win saw Praggnanandhaa climb to second place in the Grand Chess Tour standings, behind Caruana. He’ll be staying put in the Missouri city to play the Sinquefield Cup – which will have nine rounds of classical chess, starting next week, the final event before the Grand Chess Tour finals.
“When you see the score, everything looks smooth but it wasn’t the case,” Praggnanandhaa told Saint Louis Chess Club, “It was crazy. Kudos to Javokhir, he kept up the fight till the end.”
Heading into the final day of the tournament with Sindarov snapping at his heels. Praggnanandhaa’s note to self was: don’t do anything stupid.
He began the final day of Blitz on a wobbly note. Playing with the Black pieces, Praggnanandhaa turned down a draw against Awonder Liang though he had neither a perpetual check nor a checkmate, and ended up losing. He defeated Anish Giri with a queenside breakthrough, Leinier Dominguez on time and his pawn-down game against Sindarov which ended in a draw, was enough to see him through to the title.
“Sometimes, it’s not enough to play well. You need to be lucky too,” rued Sindarov, who finished 1.5 points behind Praggnanandhaa. The Uzbek GM will play defending world champion Gukesh for the world title later this year.
For Praggnanandhaa, it’s been quite the arc. In 2024, he finished dead last in the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz. Two years later, he’s taking home a $50,000 cheque and a large silver trophy for first place in the same tournament.
“It’s a massive improvement,” he said. “Last year, because of the Rapid and Blitz, I was in a position where I had to perform in Sinquefield Cup. This time, because of Rapid and Blitz, I got good scores. I’m happy I managed to improve in that area and my Rapid and Blitz is getting better.”
He has enjoyed an impressive run across formats this year. In June, he won Norway Chess, the classical event that included two victories over world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. Now, he has topped both the rapid and blitz sections in Saint Louis.
He started the year on a slightly despondent note, with an underwhelming performance at the Candidates tournament in Cyprus.
His sister, Vaishali, went on to win the Women’s Candidates, which took place at the same time. She became only the second Indian woman after Koneru Humpy to qualify for the match. Her victory, to some extent, helped ease his disappointment, as he accompanied her to her felicitation events.
Back in 2012, they set out on their first international trip together, for the Asian youth championship in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka. Back then, the biggest challenge was shoring travel funds for both the siblings and their mother, Nagalakshmi. They both returned champions - Vaishali, in the under-12 section and Praggnanandhaa, winning the under-8.
Nearly 15 years later, the scene has changed but the script remains familiar. The siblings are still travelling together, still leaning on each other - only now, the trophies in their carry-on luggage are bigger.
