Praggu would go for the world title: Coach Ramesh

At 12 years and 10 months, Praggnanandhaa is second only to Sergei Karjakin of Russia (12 years and seven months) in the all-time list of youngest Grandmasters. 

The Chennai lad beat Moroni Luca Jr in the eighth round on Saturday to make the norm, though he still had a round against GM Prujjsers Roeland of the Netherlands on Sunday. He then completed his requirements in style beating Roeland on Sunday to finish with 7.5 points from nine rounds. The result also gave him a joint first place in the event with Ivan Sarica of Croatia (Elo 2685).

While Praggu enjoys the status as the youngest Grandmaster (Karjakin is in his late 20s now) at the moment, the weight of exectations is certainly going to weigh on the Chnnai-based boy. In fact, late last year, he was in line to erase Karjakin’s record at the World junior, but he narrowly missed the mark.

“One quality of Praggu is that he won’t let these marks get the better of him,” said his coach and Grandmaster RB Ramesh, who lauded his ward’s exploit in Italy. “Fantastic achievement so one so young,” he told DTNext.

“His GM title was confirmed only after he appeared on the board for the last game, though he had made the required points on Saturday,” explained Ramesh. “Now that this major milestone is behind him, he should focus on improving his overall chess skills and add variety to his opening arsenal,” Ramesh added.