While the world is talking about the ticking minutes of the Chandrayaan spacecraft, murmurs are also heard about another of India's proudest events. What is that event? If it depends on whom, the answer is only one word…. Pragnananda. Although India has produced more than 80 Grand Masters, Pragnananda, who continues to carve himself, carries India's countless dreams at the age of 18. For those who wonder if Pragnananda came out of nowhere, the journey from his early chess forays to his World Cup journey is surprising. Pragnananda was born on August 10, 2005 in the capital Chennai. It was while watching Pogo Channel that he got the idea to succeed in chess like his elder sister. He did accordingly and would never have imagined this phenomenal development. Brig was ready to take the field at the age of 5 to get interested in chess at an early age. In 2013 at the age of 8 and in 2015 at the age of 10, he won the Fide Masters title. In 2016, Pragnananda became the youngest player in chess history to achieve Grand Master status at the age of 12. Following the advice of Viswanathan Anand, India's first grandmaster whom he considers his guru, Pragnananda, who has been playing against numerous competitions, became India's young star by winning the World Youth Champion title in 2019 and scoring 2600 FIDE points. He continued to increase his rating points by participating in major chess leagues and won the Bogler Challenge in 2020 to qualify for the Meltwater Tour. Pragnananda, who faced more experienced players, finished 10th, but wins against Teymur Rasabov, San-Kristof Duda, Serge Kariakin and a draw against world number one Magnus Carlsen provided more experience. In 2022, Pragnananda became the third Indian to defeat world champion Magnus Carlsen at Earthing Masters Battles. Pragnananda defeated Carlson once again at the Chessabile Masters and defeated him for the third time in the FTX 2022 Crypto Cup. Pragnananda, who was included in the Indian Men's B team in the first Chess Olympiad held in Mamallapuram in India, strengthened his contribution to the team and the Indian team also won the bronze medal. Apart from that, the central government honored Pragnananda with the Arjuna Award, one of the sports industry awards. Pragnananda, who won the Asian Champions Chess Series title in Delhi last year, has qualified for this year's Chess World Cup Series based on his rating and recent tournament success rate.
He defeated David Navarra of the Czech Republic in the third round, Hikaru Nakamura of the USA in the fourth round, and Ferenc Berks of Hungary in the fifth round to advance to the quarterfinals. By defeating India's Eric K Arjun in the quarter-finals and USA's Karuna Fabiano in the semi-finals, the young chess legend became the first young player to reach a World Cup final and only the second Indian to reach the final after Viswanathan Anand. Pragnananda has emerged as a role model for everyone in the game of chess. Pragnananda's success is to make the viewers think that they have to face it by creating competitions for him. Praggnanandhaa finishes as runner-up, Magnus Carlsen wins maiden World Cup. 
You must be logged in to post a comment.