India’s teen chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa yesterday arrived home to celebration, with media jostling to catch a glimpse of the newly minted star who faced international No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the World Cup final.
Popularly known as “Pragg,” the 18-year-old is the youngest player to reach a chess World Cup final, held last week in the Baku, Azerbaijan.
Pragg finished with the silver after losing to Carlsen in a nail-biting tiebreak at the International Chess Federation (FIDE) final.
Photo: AFP
He earned praise from chess legend Garry Kasparov who said that Pragg was “very tenacious in difficult positions.”
Yesterday, Pragg was greeted by hordes of supporters who handed him bouquets of flowers and sweets as he emerged from the airport in his home city of Chennai in southern India.
“I am very happy to see so many people have come to receive me ... it feels really great,” he said, as he stood shyly waving from the sunroof of a vehicle, with a purple and gold scarf draped around his neck.
Such adulation is usually reserved in India for cricket stars, who enjoy celebrity status.
The son of a bank employee and a housewife, the grandmaster has been playing the sport since he was four.
Pragg’s success has been fueled by the cooking of his mother, R. 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 on Tuesday told ChessBase India that she had made rice and sambhar for Pragg at the FIDE World Rapid Team Championship in Dusseldorf, Germany, that followed the Baku event.
Pragg’s first coach, S. Thiagarajan, who began teaching him at age four, said his student was always dedicated.
“He was always a bright student and a jovial child,” said Thiagarajan, who coached him at his academy until he was 10.
“He used to be in the academy every day from 10am to 7pm, at times staying longer — and I would give him homework which would take at least three hours to finish,” he said.
In 2018 — aged just 12 years, 10 months and 13 days — Pragg became the world’s then second-youngest chess grandmaster.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
RSS