Praggnanandha overtakes Viswanathan Anand to become India’s No. 1 position

New Delhi: Chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa regained the number one spot among India’s chess players after his victory over world champion Ding Liren. The 18-year-old boy defeated Chini Liren with the black pieces and captured the number one spot by defeating the great Vishwanathan Anand in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024 on Wednesday. Praggnanandhaa said he was surprised by the result as he did not expect the world champion to be eliminated in this manner. “I thought I expressed empathy very easily and then, somehow, things started going wrong. “Even after winning Peon, I felt I should keep it going,” Praggnanandhaa was quoted as saying by Chess.com. Praggnanandhaa, who started playing at the age of 5, became India’s youngest Gran Maestro and the world’s second youngest Gran Maestro in 2018 at the age of 12. He is the fifth youngest person to hold the title of Gran Maestro after Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergei Karjakin, Gukesh D and Javokhir Sindarov. In fact, their elder sister, R Vaishali, is also a Gran Maestra, making these two brothers the world’s first GM brother-sister duo. In the Masters category, Grand Maestro Anish Giri faced the first day of rest as the sole leader of the group. Giri’s sensational actions helped him win over D Gukesh.