Hordes of supporters handed him bouquets of flowers and sweets in Chennai
By:
Chandrashekar Bhat
INDIA’S teen chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa arrived house to celebration on Wednesday (30), with media jostling to catch a glimpse of the newly minted star who confronted worldwide primary Magnus Carlsen within the World Cup last.
Popularly generally known as “Pragg”, the 18-year-old is the youngest participant to succeed in a chess World Cup last, held final week within the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
Pragg completed with the silver after dropping to Carlsen in a nail-biting tiebreak on the Worldwide Chess Federation (FIDE) last.
He earned reward from chess legend Garry Kasparov who mentioned Pragg was “very tenacious in troublesome positions”.
On Wednesday, Pragg was greeted by hordes of supporters who handed him bouquets of flowers and sweets as he emerged from the airport in his house metropolis of Chennai in southern India.
“I’m very pleased to see so many individuals have come to obtain me… it feels actually nice,” he mentioned, as he stood shyly waving from the sunroof of a automobile, with a purple and gold scarf draped round his neck.
Such adulation is normally reserved in India for cricket stars, who take pleasure in superstar standing.
The son of a financial institution worker and a housewife, the grandmaster has been taking part in the game since he was 4.
Mom’s cooking
Pragg’s success has been fuelled by the cooking of his mom Nagalakshmi, who accompanies him on chess tournaments with pots and southern Indian seasonings to make his favorite meal of rice and spicy rasam or sambhar soup.
Nagalakshmi informed the ChessBase India information website on Tuesday that she had made rice and sambhar for Pragg on the FIDE World Speedy Group Championship in Dusseldorf, Germany, that adopted the Baku occasion.
Pragg’s first coach S Thiagarajan, who started instructing him at age 4, mentioned his scholar was at all times devoted.
“He was at all times a shiny scholar and a jovial little one,” Thiagarajan, who coached him at his academy till he was 10, mentioned.
“He was once within the academy each day from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, at occasions staying longer – and I might give him homework which might take not less than three hours to complete,” he mentioned.
In 2018 – aged simply 12 years, 10 months and 13 days – Pragg turned the world’s then second-youngest chess grandmaster.
Chess has gained in recognition in India previously 20 years after Vishwanathan Anand turned the nation’s first grandmaster aged 18 in 1988 and dominated the sport within the 2000s.
A predecessor to chess is assumed by some to have originated in India within the sixth century AD, from the place it unfold to Persia and developed into the “Recreation of Kings” it’s at present.
(AFP)
