Viswanathan Anand,  at the age of 18 became the chess grandmaster. And, now a Chennai boy R Praggnanandhaa has become the second youngest chess grandmaster at the age of 12 years. He defeated GM Moroni Luca Jr in round 8 of the 4th Gredine Open in Italy and achieved the titled.

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When the leading daily questioned him that he was remarkably scored, He said, “There is a sense of relief that I have done it. I guess the feeling is yet to fully sink in. I wasn’t aware of the prospect of becoming a GM till someone informed me while I was heading for my round 8 match. I chose not to think of it as it would have robbed me of my concentration. My next target will obviously be to become the world champion.”

Viswanathan Anand took to Twitter, welcomed him and said, “Welcome to the club & congrats Praggnanandhaa!! See u soon in Chennai?”

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In May 2017, Praggu bagged the titled of the youngest International Master in the world and got his maiden GM norm at the World Junior Championships in November 2017.

Meanwhile, the coach of Praggu, RB Ramesh said, “I don’t think Praggu was chasing the youngest GM tag. Yes, he would analyze his game, think of getting better at it but beyond that, he never dwelled too much on the outcomes.”

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Rameshbabu and Nagalakshmi, the parents of GM Praggu always keep a track on his path so that he can walk on the right way. They introduced him to the sport. He was sharp with his moves and play the game for the love of it.

“Results didn’t matter much as long as he enjoyed the game,” said his father Rameshbabu.

“I won’t say it affected my performance, but I have thought of it a few times. I can now play a lot more freely,” he revealed.

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Published by Kajal Thakur on 27 Jun 2018