wooA 17-year-old hen who beat the five-time world champion and the strongest chess player of all time in three consecutive matches is bound to attract attention. R. Pragyananand did this on the final day of the FTX Crypto Cup in Miami on Sunday. However, his impressive win over Magnus Carlsen was not enough to win the tournament; They had to settle for the runners-up spot behind Norway. But it’s more than credible, as all seven of his rivals in the round-robin event had higher Fide ratings. And it wasn’t the first time he was beating Carlsen, who won the online tournament earlier this year. The scintillating performance in Miami should undoubtedly be a huge morale booster for the Chennai player. He left for Miami soon after helping India 2 win a bronze medal at the Chennai Chess Olympiad. However, he was not the biggest star in Mamallapuram. His teammate, D. Gukesh, who was also from Chennai and a teenager, created a sensation in the Olympiads, registering eight consecutive victories. A few months back, it was Arjun Erigasi, another Indian teen, who was in the news.
Besides Pragyanand, Gukesh and Arigasi, two other young Indians – Nihal Sarin and Raunak Sadhwani – also excelled in the Olympiad. Sadhwani won the blitz title at the Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival, hours before Pragyanandan’s victory against Carlsen. In the Masters category of the tournament, Sadhwani shared second place with Arrigasi and Sarin after five rounds. As for Gukesh, he is busy improving his rating in the Turkish Chess Super League in Ankara. All these extremely talented youngsters playing their brilliant moves at the same time is a good sign for Indian chess. And some more youngsters are waiting, like V. Pranav and Bharat Subramaniam. Rarely has India threatened to take on the world in any sport with a bunch of promising teens. Viswanathan Anand, who started it all, may have been the lone Indian at the top, but he is likely to be accompanied by his successors. He is now mentoring young Indians who have acknowledged how much they have benefited from working with him. These days quality coaches, some of whom are grandmasters, are available across the country. A strong home base, supported by, among other things, parental support and an increase in the popularity of the game, promises an even brighter day for Indian chess.