Praggnanandhaa Carlsen Match, Opinion: Even when Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa lost to world number 1, but India is in the golden age of chess
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Indian chess player Rameshbabu Praggnanandha defeated World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana and World No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura to reach the World Cup finals, but lost to World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. However, Pragya and his young Indian teammates put up a stellar performance. Young players from some other countries also played well. It is clear that a generational change is about to happen in chess and it is in all likelihood that this change will be in India’s favour. The Chess World Cup is one of the most prestigious events in the calendar. It is played in a Wimbledon-style knockout format, in which the time limit gradually decreases and the sudden death rule is applied if the match is tied, so that there is one winner per match.
The open section has a prize pool of around 1.60 lakh Euros, even the loser of the first round is given some prize money. More importantly, the World Cup offers three seats that are up for grabs in the Candidates cycle, and it is from the Candidates cycle that the challenger to the World Champion is selected. It is a grueling process in which eight players play against each other to challenge the World Champion. Title cycles carry prizes of several million euros, with the 2023 match carrying a prize of 2 million euros. This amount was divided between two players in the ratio of 55 and 45. The prize money for a knockout cycle is at least 5 million Euros.
Four players from India reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup, thereby winning 50% of the slots. Only 17-year-old Gukesh lost to Carlsen while Pragya pulled off a fine quarter-final win against Arjun Erigaisi, who lost on sudden death. Pragya, who celebrated his 18th birthday during the World Cup, has booked a candidate seat for himself. There are only two players in the history of chess who have done so at a younger age, and both are world champions. One is Magnus Carlsen, the other Bobby Fish. However, World No. 2 Gukesh also has a great chance to book one of the remaining candidates’ seats and it would be unprecedented if two Indians make it to the cycle.
Pragya gave a tough fight to Carlsen to send him to the tiebreak. He also had a tough fight against 19-year-old German Vincent Keimer, who actually took the lead in their match. However, Carlsen later leveled the score and ‘returned to normal service’. Another young player in the world top 10 is Alireza Feroz. He is from Iran but lives in France. Pragya, Gukesh, Keymer, Erigaci, Nihal Sarin, Alireza, Nodirbek Abusatorov (Uzbekistan), Evonder Liang (USA), all young players under the age of 20 and on the verge of breaking into the top ranks. Change of generation is natural. Chess is a physically and mentally demanding game and each generation eventually has to give way to the next.
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If you delve deeper into chess statistics, you can conclude that great chess players reach their peak at the age of 35 to 40, just like the spin bowlers of cricket who have a very late turn at 35. If the physical energy needed to concentrate is left, then on the other hand they also get a longer experience. Top-ranked Carlsen is 33, Nakamura is 37, Caruana is 31, current world champion Ding Liren is 31, and eventual challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi is 33. So, they are all experienced in their lot. But an extraordinary generation of teenagers seem capable of challenging him already and seem to be outpacing strong players in their early 20s.
Now extraordinary figures are being received from the point of view of India. When you see the list of top 100 juniors (under 20), there are 21 players from India, which is a really huge number. Four Indian juniors in Gukesh, Prag, Arigasi and Sarin are in the top 10 and 7 are in the top 20. In addition, the world’s youngest Grandmaster, 14-year-old American Abhimanyu Mishra, also of Indian origin, is at number 21 on that list. Chess has a long and rich history in India. The country is now emerging as a major chess power in the world. Indian chess players are now consistently making it to the top rankings. They are posing a serious challenge for the World Championship. It is an exciting time for Indian chess. It will be interesting to see what this young and talented generation of players can achieve in the future.
Praggnanandhaa: Despite losing the World Cup, R. Praggnanandha became rich, the son of a minor bank babu earned
India has a lot of young grandmasters and it is likely that one or more of them will be playing in a World Championship match soon. Together they would dominate world chess for the next decade or so. There could be many reasons for this talent explosion. One reason is that the number of chess players in India is very high. Over 10,000 people have participated in chess tournaments in India in the last 12 months and 1.3 million Indians have watched the Carlsen-Pragya match. Another reason is cheap data and easy internet access. Nearly 50 million games are played on online chess platforms every day and smartphone-wielding Indian kids are a major part of them.
The third reason is the widespread availability of basic chess coaching, which has helped build such a large base. The fourth reason is the increase in the number of tournaments with strong participation. If there is a talented young chess player anywhere in India, he will be discovered and given a chance to shine. Pragya has accepted defeat, but India’s winning spree has probably only just begun.
The author is an International Master in Correspondence Chess and a FIDE-rated chess player. The original English article is published in our associate newspaper The Times of India (ToI).
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