No surprise here: Praggnanandhaa’s persistence and hard work is paying off

Irrespective of the outcome in the final of the Chessable Masters rapid event against Liren, Praggnanandhaa’s remarkable run is worthy of lavish praise

By the time R Praggnanandhaa completed a sensational win over world No 10 Anish Giri in the semi-final of Chessable Masters – a $150,000 online rapid tournament – the clock had ticked past 2am in India. If he was looking for a leisurely Wednesday morning to soak in his victory, he wasn’t going to get it. Roughly five-and-a-half hours later, the 16-year-old Chennai boy was up and awake, preparing to head to school to attend his Class XI final exams.

Praggnanandhaa’s win over Netherlands’ Giri came after a see-saw battle that went into a tiebreaker (Chess.com/Facebook)

Juggling between the two might be beyond ordinary folk, but there is nothing run-of-the-mill about Praggnanandhaa. Over the course of the last week, he has defeated Magnus Carlsen, his second victory over the reigning five-time world champion in three months, Wei Yi and now Giri to set up a clash with world No 2 Ding Liren of China for the title on Wednesday night.

Praggnanandhaa’s win over Netherlands’ Giri came after a see-saw battle that went into a tiebreaker. While the first of four rapid games ended in a draw as both players began cautiously, the Indian Grandmaster (GM) upped the ante in the second to hand Giri his first loss of the tournament. Giri turned the tide in the third and seemed all set to level the scores, but Praggnanandhaa managed to survive and force a draw. A victory for Giri in the fourth forced a tiebreaker, which Praggnanandhaa won after winning the first blitz game and drawing the second.

Irrespective of the outcome in the final against Liren, Praggnanandhaa’s remarkable run is worthy of lavish praise. He is ranked 108th in the world currently, but he’s been going up against the world’s best players and matching them move for move. Both of his victories over Carlsen – in February, he became only the third Indian after Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna to beat the Norwegian – came as a result of blunders that the latter seldom commits.

According to coach RB Ramesh – a Grandmaster himself – the recent results are simply a case of Praggnanandhaa’s persistence and prolonged hard work paying off. He has been training under Ramesh since the age of seven, and his work ethic has remained the same all through.

“It’s not that he has become a better player in the last couple of months. All the hard work he has been doing right from the time he was 7 when he came to me is showing. When he was 10, he became the world’s youngest International Master (IM). When he was 12, he became the second youngest GM at the time. When he was 14, he crossed the 2600 rating, which made him the youngest Indian to do so,” said Ramesh, lending perspective to the youngster’s evolution. “If you see over a period of time, he has been making progress. He has been breaking records. People notice it only when something (big) happens. It is an overall journey. He has always been progressing steadily towards the top.”

The exposure to playing against some of the world’s top players is certainly helping Praggnanandhaa’s cause. The Chessable Masters is one of a series of tournaments that is part of the Champions Chess Tour – an initiative of Carlsen’s where nine tournaments will be held in nine months this year.

“There are at least four or five top players participating in these tournaments every month. Carlsen is playing every month. Giri is playing every month. Liren is playing in this tournament (Chessable Masters). So, Praggnanandhaa is getting a chance every month to play against the top players. That is a very good thing,” the 46-year-old coach said.

Praggnanandhaa earned this opportunity to compete with the sport’s elite by winning the Challengers Chess Tour last year— a tournament where the top-20 juniors competed. “If he had not been working hard for all these years, he would have been crushed (in these tournaments). The rating difference with the top players is vast (most of his opponents are rated 150 points above him). But he has realised that he can handle the top-10 players in the world. Playing these guys every month has helped him sharpen his skills, increase his stamina, become more alert and thorough in his preparation,” said Ramesh.

With each victory, the spotlight on the reticent chess prodigy from the suburbs of west Chennai is only going to magnify. Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik has already remarked, for instance, that Praggnanandhaa is playing “like a real world champion, not a future one.”

Ramesh and Praggnanandhaa, though, have their feet firmly on the ground. “I disagree with Kramnik's assessment. Kramnik is not watching all these players very closely. When someone does well, people give their opinion. I have a lot of respect for Kramnik as a player, but Praggu still has a long way to go,” Ramesh said.

Ramesh went on to elaborate on the specifics. “He had been trying to become a better player at the cost of opening preparation. We were focusing on improving his general strength. Now that he is very strong, we have been working more on openings too for the last one-and-a-half years. But it will take another one or two years for him to become extremely strong at openings and get at par with the top players. As of now, he is very, very far from becoming a world champion.”