Bengaluru: Praggnanandhaa returned to his hotel room and splayed himself across his bed the night of his Grand Chess Tour win. He had spent a month living at the same hotel, in the same city – St Louis, Missouri. He chuckles that might have been a bit much had it not been for the results: he won two of the three tournaments.
The 21-year-old is back home in Chennai, playing pickleball and catching his breath before he heads to Uzbekistan for the Olympiad in mid-September. He is candid, pensive and characteristically droll as he talks about his recent run, growing up in the public eye and evolving as a player. “I’m not someone who was naturally ambitious. I didn’t have a strong will to win,” Pragg told HT in an interview.
“If you look at guys like Gukesh and Arjun (Erigaisi), they were winning tournaments as they were coming up. I didn’t have that. Winning tournaments wasn’t really my focus. My approach was ‘if I have a chance, I’ll try to win’, it wasn’t something I was chasing right from the start.”
That changed towards the end of 2024. In January 2025, he won his first major tournament, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, defeating then newly-crowned world champion Gukesh in the playoff.
{{/usCountry}}That changed towards the end of 2024. In January 2025, he won his first major tournament, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, defeating then newly-crowned world champion Gukesh in the playoff.
{{/usCountry}}“It’s something I had to learn. I had to build that mindset. Now it’s becoming easier. I can push myself.”
It took some tinkering to get here.
“There comes a stage where you give up, but you have to push yourself constantly. A few times it may not go your way, but you just keep pushing until it becomes second nature. There were periods where I lost games because I was over-pushing or I was taking risks which were uncalled for in openings and certain positions. All those little experiments helped. I learnt from them.”
It’s going swimmingly well. He won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz last month and became the first Indian to win the Grand Chess Tour, just months after his stunning Norway Chess triumph, where he defeated world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen twice. At world no 8, he’s now India’s highest-ranked player, returning to the world top 10 after seven months.
A part of him wishes he had this run of form at the Candidates tournament earlier this year. “My focus was getting to the Candidates through the FIDE circuit spot. I played so many classical tournaments back-to-back. There was no one else even trying to attempt it. I prepared well, I was in good shape before the Candidates and also started with a win. Everything felt like it was going well and then it didn’t go my way. It still hurts because for two years you think about this one thing and suddenly it’s over and I wasn’t even close to getting a chance. I don’t want to think about the next cycle already. It’s too much.”
Pragg has had the spotlight trained on him ever since he became the world’s youngest International Master at 10 and a grandmaster two years later. “I grew up in the public eye. My successes and setbacks were for all to see and perhaps judge. Earlier, I would react and things could get to me. It doesn’t affect me anymore. As you grow up in the spotlight, you learn to handle these things better.”
Apart from his trainer Vaibhav Suri, he leans on his mentor RB Ramesh. “He’s my go-to guy,” Pragg laughs. At home, his go-to person is his sister, Vaishali, who will compete at the Women’s World Championship next year. After his Rapid and Blitz win in Saint Louis, the siblings found time for the latest Spider-Man movie.
Pragg came off the Grand Chess Tour with a title and winnings totalling a whopping four crores. “I’m glad there’s money coming in which my dad handles entirely. I’m not into buying expensive things. The most expensive things I own are probably my laptop, phone and Whoop. I’m not much into Whoop, but okay, it’s something I use.”
He agrees there’s a trade-off involved in living this life.
His rare avenue of socialising with people outside chess is at the gym. “It’s nice to meet new people, have new conversations. I enjoy it. Most of them are aware of who I am and what I do.”
“Whatever I have, it’s not a normal life of a 21-year-old. I don’t really have friends outside chess. Someone my age would like to go out, be with friends maybe party or whatever else. Even when I’m in Chennai, I hardly go out. I’m completely focused on this one thing, which is chess. I don’t really regret or miss having friends outside chess, but it would be nice to have them perhaps. But I’m happy where I am. It’s just something that I have to give up to get to where I want to be.”
“Chess teaches you to be resilient, to be responsible for your decisions. You make a poor one, and you’re worse on the board right away. You fight back, and again you’re better. It resembles life. It’s possible I would have learnt it doing something else, but chess teaches you these things in best possible way.”