Tata Steel Chess: It all started in the City of Joy for Praggnanandhaa

R. Praggnanandhaa has achieved fame since reaching the Chess World Cup final, winning the FIDE World Rapid Team Championship, and meeting PM Modi. He is now in Kolkata for the Indian team's coaching camp for the Asian Games and will begin his campaign at the Tata Steel Chess India tournament. He is excited to play both the rapid and blitz sections and believes Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin will join him in the world's top-20. PM Modi made him feel at home during their meeting.

He has hardly had a moment of rest since he made it to the final of the Chess World Cup at Baku. R. Praggnanandhaa may have lost to Magnus Carlsen, the planet’s best player by a considerable distance, but he won fame the way probably no Indian chess player has since Viswanathan Anand.

From Baku, he had to travel to Dusseldorf for the FIDE World rapid team championship. His team WR Chess was the champion.

After receiving a hero’s welcome in his hometown of Chennai, he was invited for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Then he came to Kolkata for the Indian team’s coaching camp for the Asian Games.

On Tuesday, he will begin his campaign at the Tata Steel Chess India tournament.

“I have always enjoyed being in Kolkata and Tata Steel Chess India is a super tournament,” Praggnanandhaa said at a media interaction here on Monday. “It was here I got to play for the first time against players like Hikaru Nakamura, Vishy sir (Anand) and Levon Aronian in 2018. I had a glimpse of what top class chess was about. Even though it was a blitz tournament, I got to learn a lot from these players.”

The 18-year-old is happy that he would be playing both the rapid and blitz sections this time around. “I have never played both the events in the same tournament and I am very excited,” he said. “This year’s field is very strong as it always is.”

Praggnanandhaa believes that Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin too would join Gukesh and him in the world’s top-20. “We are all working very hard,” he said.