Praggnanandhaa – The Hindu

Of India’s unusually large number of disappointments at the recent Chess World Cup in Goa, R. Praggnanandhaa was the biggest. The third seed was knocked out in the fourth round by Russia’s Daniil Dubov.

Praggnanadhaa had contested the final in the last World Cup, and was on the cusp of qualifying for the Candidates tournament through the FIDE Circuit. His early exit was a double blow: a top three finish at the World Cup would have also ensured his ticket for Cyprus, which will host the Candidates in March-April next year.

The poor show at Arpora, a serene, green village on the coast of North Goa, meant the 20-year-old could no longer quite take the FIDE Circuit for granted. So he chose to play at the London Chess Classic, and went on to share the top prize in the Open section of the tournament. That would prove enough for him to win the Circuit; his nearest rival, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who shared the top prize in London Classic’s Elite tournament with a round to spare, now could not catch up with him, even if he were to reproduce that kind of form at the World Rapid and Blitz championship in Doha late this month.

So Praggnanandhaa has kept alive hopes of an all-India – or an all-Chennai – fight for the next World championship. If he wins the Candidates, he will take on the defending champion D. Gukesh in the World title match.

To win the Candidates will not be easy, of course. The tournament features some of the strongest players, including the World No. 2 and No. 3 from the USA, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, the No. 8 Anish Giri of the Netherlands and China’s Wei Yi, No. 9. Jovakhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan), Andrey Esipenko (Russia) and Matthias Bluebaum complete the line-up for the double round-robin league of eight men.

Some of them may be stronger than him, but they all know Praggnanandhaa is a tough customer who has had a great year, especially in the format of the Candidates: classical chess. Before the London Classic, he had also won other significant tournaments, such as Tata Steel Masters, Superbet Chess Classic Romania and UzChess Cup Masters.

His next tournament is the Global Chess League in Mumbai, starting on December 14. He is playing for Alpine SG Pipers, where his teammates include Giri and Caruana.