Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa: An Indian Chess Grandmaster

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu is an Indian chess player. He became the fourth-youngest person ever to achieve the title of GrandMaster. He also became the youngest International Master in the history of chess at the age of 10 years. Praggnanandhaa started playing chess at a very early age and won the World Youth Chess Championship at the age of seven.

Praggnanandhaa was born on 10 august 2005, and his age is 14 years old (as of 2019). His father, Ramesh Babu, is an employee in State Corporation Bank, and his mother Nagalaxmi is a housewife. He has an elder sister Vaishali R. She is also a chess player.

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa Wiki/Profile

Full Name	Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu
Nickname	Praggu
Occupation/Profession	Chess Player
Famous For/As	As Chess Player

Family- Childhood

Parents

Praggnanandhaa R was born on 10th August 2005 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu to Ramesh Babu(father) & Nagalakshmi(mother). He lives in the suburb of Padi in Chennai, his father K Ramesh Babu is a Tamil Nadu State Corporation Bank employee, while his mother is a housewife.

Father: His father Rameshbabu became disabled with Polio in childhood, he is a graduate and works at Tamil Nadu state Corporation Bank.

Mother: she takes him to various international tournaments as his father would be busy with his work.

Father	Ramesh Babu
Mother	Nagalaxmi
Brother	None
Sister	Vaishali (elder)

Praggnanandhaa, 16, becomes only third Indian to beat Magnus Carlsen in stunning upset

After move 38, Magnus Carlsen found his king left with just one safe square to seek fleeting refuge. The end was in sight and inescapable. Sixteen-year-old Indian GM R Praggnanandhaa laid out the traps beautifully with Black, which culminated in moving his light-squared bishop to the c2 square, cordoning off the white queen’s ties with the second rank.

Both players knew it was over. The fidgety 16-year-old sank back in his chair, shook his head, and rested a palm against his face in mild disbelief as Carlsen promptly resigned after 39 moves.

Praggnanandhaa had just become the third Indian to beat Carlsen in tournament play – after Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna.

The massive moment in the Indian teen’s young career arrived in the early hours of Monday at the Airthings Masters, a 16-player online rapid tournament. It’s the first leg of the Play Magnus group-run Champions Chess Tour and the round-robin is scored football-style – three points (and $750) for a win, and one point (and $250) for each draw. Each player has 15 minutes for all moves plus a 10-second per move increment.

On Move 32, in what appeared to be an equal endgame, Carlsen stumbled into a tactical blunder. He trapped his own knight by pushing it to the c3 square. Chess engines went wild, giving Black the overwhelming odds for a win. Praggnanandhaa leaned forward over his screen, and his surprised pupils filled the webcam feed. He just needed seven more moves to tuck into a win. And win he did.

Youngest International Master

The previous record was held by Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, he was 12 years 7 months old when he had attained the title of international master. He reduced the previous record by almost 2 years, quite a record considering there weren't more than 6-7 months in between the previous records. The great Magnus Carlsen was 13 years 4 months old when he became an international master.

Personal Information
Date of Birth	10 August 2005
Birth Place	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Zodiac sign	Libra
Nationality	Indian
School Name	Private High School
College Name	Not Known
Qualifications	In School

Career

• World Youth Chess Championship: In 2013 Praggnanandhaa won the World Youth Chess Championship for Under-8 boys title.
• In 2015 he won the Youth Chess Championship in the under-10 category.
• In August 2017 Praggnanandhaa crossed 2500 points and became the youngest player to do that.
• Youngest Grandmaster: Praggnanandhaa became the 2nd youngest person to achieve the GrandMaster (GM) Title in 2018, Now he is the fourth-youngest ever, just behind- Sergey Karjakin, Dommaraju Gukesh & Javokhir Sindarov. He achieved his 3rd GM norm at the Grenadine Open in Urtijëi, where he defeated Luca Moroni. He was 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days old at the time.
• 2600 Milestone: Youngest player ever to cross 2600 points, he attained that feat during the London Chess Classic FIDE open in 2019. He defeated GM Jules Moussard to achieve a score of 2602.
• Xtracon Chess Open: Praggnanandhaa won the Xtracon Chess Open held in Elsinore, Denmark with an aggregate of 8/5/10. He was unbeaten throughout and was ahead of other competitors.
• Praggnanandhaa surprised everyone by defeating Axel Bachmann, a chess grandmaster in just 18  moves, and has also defeated another GM Levon Babujian.

In 2016, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest international master in history, at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days. He achieved his first grandmaster norm at the World Junior Chess Championship in November 2017, finishing fourth with 8 points.

He gained his second norm at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM Norm tournament in Greece on 17 April 2018. On 23 June 2018, he achieved his third and final norm at the Grenadine Open in Urtijëi, Italy by defeating Luca Moroni in the eighth round to become, at the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days, the then second-youngest person ever to achieve the rank of grandmaster (Sergey Karjakin achieved the title at the age of 12 years and 7 months).

In 2018, he was invited to the Leon Masters in Spain for a four-game rapid match against Wesley So. The 12-year-old Praggnanandhaa defeated So in game one, and after three games the score was tied at 1½–1½. In the last game, So defeated Praggnanandhaa, thus winning the match 2½–1½.

In July 2019, Praggnanandhaa won the Xtracon Chess Open in Denmark scoring 8½/10 points (+7–0=3).

On October 12, 2019, Praggnanandhaa won the World Youth Championships in the Under 18 section with a score of 9/11.

In December 2019, Praggnanandhaa became the second youngest to cross the 2600 Elo mark. He did this at the age of 14 years, 3 months, and 24 days.

Some Interesting Facts & Information about Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa

• Praggnanandhaa learned chess at the age of five.
• He won the World Youth Chess Championship 2013 at the age of seven and earned the title of FIDE Master.
• In 2015 he again won the World Youth Chess Championship.

• In 2016 he became the youngest  International Master in chess, and in 2017 he achieved his first grandmaster norm at the World Junior Chess Championship.
• In April 2018, He earned his second grandmaster norm at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM Norm tournament in Greece.
• In June 2018, Praggnanandhaa earned the third grandmaster norm at the Grenadine Open in Urtijëi.
• His aim is to score 3000 points in chess. He has crossed 2500 points so far.
• Praggnanandhaa practices for 4-5 hours every day.
• His coach is R.B.Ramesh.
• He has an elder sister Vaishali. She is also a chess player, and she has been a two-time youth chess champion and a Women’s Grandmaster.
• His favorite sportspersons are Mangus Carlsen and Vishwanathan Anand.
• He visited various countries during the international chess tournaments. He usually goes with her mother because his father stays busy with his work.
• He usually celebrates his victory by visiting the temple and his grandmother’s house with his parents.
• Praggnanandhaa got success at a very early age. He is an inspiration for many of the children.

Timeline

• London Chess Classic FIDE Open: Praggnanandhaa won the 2019 competition along with Anton Smirnov both of whom scored 7.5/9. Praggnanandhaa's fellow "Ches Gurukual" student Aravindh Chithambaram finished 3rd at the event, while another Indian Sahaj Grover and Praggnanandhaa's sister R. Vaishali both finished at a respectable 6.5/9
• December 2019: Praggnanandhaa became the youngest Grand Master ever to score 2600 points at the London Classic chess event at the age of 14 years and 3 months, he overtook his friend and fellow Indian Nihal Sarin who was the previous youngest to score 2600 points at the age of 14 years and 10 months.
• October 2019: Praggnanandhaa won the World Youth Chess Championship held in Mumbai with a score of 9/11 in the under-18 category. He was just 14 at the time and had chosen to compete in the higher age category
• August 2019: Finished 3rd at the Abu Dhabi Blitz
• July 2019: Praggnanandhaa won the Xtracon Chess Open in Denmark ahead of higher-ranked players like- Nils Grandelius, Gabriel Sargissian, Anton Korobov. He gained 28.5 rating points from the tournament.
• May 2019: He played for the Cannes team at the French League
• March 2019: Competition at the Prague Challengers 2019 where he beat the legendary Russian Grandmaster Alexei Shirov.
• January 2019: Competed at the Tata Steel Challengers 2019
• December 2018: He competed at The Sunway Sitges International Chess championship, he scored 6.5/10 with 3 wins and 7 draws and remained undefeated. His sister Vaishali won the best woman player's prize.

• November 2018: Competed at the Tata Steel Chess India 2018 blitz tournament where he played against the legendary Vishy Anand for the first time.
• October 2018:Played at the Isle Of Man International where he defeated GM Pavel Eljanov who had a rating of 2703
• 2018: Defeated Grand Master Wesley Barbasa So (of the USA, who has the career-best rank of 2 and peak rating of 2822) at the Leon Masters in the first of 4 Rapid games, managed to Draw another game, lost the 4 games closely at 2.5-1.5.
• June 2018: Became an official GrandMaster at the age of 12  years 10 months 13 days
• April 2018: Achieved 2nd GM norm at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial tournament held in Greece
• 2017: Achieved 1st GM norm
• 2016: Became the youngest International Master in the history of the game
• 2015: Won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-10 title
• 2013: Won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title

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