Indian chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa continues to impress on the world stage, this time holding the mighty Magnus Carlsen to a thrilling draw. The result has elicited praise from across the nation, including industrialist Anand Mahindra. Praggnanandhaa, 18, has become a serious challenger to Mr Carlsen’s dominance. Their recent encounter was a tense battle, with neither player able to secure a decisive advantage at the Superbet tournament in Poland.
Anand Mahindra, known for his active social media presence and support for Indian talent, took to Twitter to acknowledge Praggnanandhaa’s achievement. He wrote, “Time to brag about Pragg…”
See the post here:
Time to brag about Pragg…
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) May 11, 2024
Since being posted on X, the post has amassed more than 3 lakh views and congratulatory messages from internet users.
A user wrote, “He is genius really. Setting examples.”
Another user commented, “India is full of champions in every field, especially Sports and Music.”
“Gem of India, protect him at all cost,” the third user wrote.
Earlier, Chess legend Gary Kasparov praised young grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa, who gave autographs to fans during the Rapid and Blitz tournament, and said the way he was giving signature means “hand doesn’t get sore so quickly”.
Garry Gasparov posted a video on X with the caption: “Smart lad; a fast and short signature means your hand doesn’t get sore so quickly!”
Praggnanandhaa started playing at the tender age of 5 and went on to become India’s youngest and the then world’s second-youngest Grandmaster at age 12 in 2018. He is the fifth-youngest person to achieve the title of Grandmaster after Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D and Javokhir Sindarov.
