 Praggnanandhaa in 2025 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa |
| Born | (2005-08-10)10 August 2005 (age 20) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Chess career | |
| Country | India |
| Title | Grandmaster (2018) |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| FIDE rating | 2768 (November 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2785 (September 2025) |
| Ranking | No. 7 (November 2025) |
| Peak ranking | No. 4 (July 2025) |
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa[a] (born 10 August 2005) is an Indianchess grandmaster. Achess prodigy, he placed second in the2023 Chess World Cup, and is the only Indian to have won theTata Steel Chess Tournament afterViswanathan Anand. He was also part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the2022 Asian Games in themen's team competition, and the gold medal in the open section at the45th Chess Olympiad in 2024. In June 2025, he signed withesports clubTeam Liquid.
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Praggnanandhaa was born to a Tamil-speaking family inChennai, Tamil Nadu, on 10 August 2005.[1] His father, Rameshbabu, works as a branch manager atTNSC Bank,[2] and his mother, Nagalakshmi, is ahomemaker who often accompanies Praggnanandhaa when he travels for tournaments.[3]
Praggnanandhaa and his elder sisterVaishali are the first brother and sister to earn grandmaster titles, with Praggnanandhaa doing so in 2018 and his sister doing so in 2023.[4] They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for theCandidates Tournament.[5]
Aside from chess, Praggnanandhaa enjoys playingtable tennis and watchingcricket in his spare time.[6]
Praggnanandhaa won theWorld Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title in 2013, earning him the title ofFIDE Master. He won the under-10 title in 2015.[7]
In 2016, Praggnanandhaa became the youngestinternational master in history, at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days.[8][9] He achieved his first grandmasternorm at theWorld Junior Chess Championship in November 2017, finishing fourth with 8 points.[10]
He gained his second norm at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM norm tournament in Greece on 17 April 2018.[11] On 23 June 2018 he achieved his third and final norm at the Gredine Open inUrtijëi, Italy, by defeatingLuca Moroni in the eighth round to become, at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 13 days, the then second-youngest person ever to achieve the rank of grandmaster (Sergey Karjakin attained the title at 12 years and 7 months).[12] He is the sixth-youngest person ever to achieve the title ofGrandmaster (GM), behindAbhimanyu Mishra,[13] Karjakin,Gukesh Dommaraju,Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş, andJavokhir Sindarov.[14]
In 2018, Praggnanandhaa was invited to the Magistral deLeón Masters in Spain for a four-game rapid match againstWesley So. He defeated So in game one, and after three games the score was tied at 1½–1½. In the last game, So defeated Praggnanandhaa, winning the match 2½–1½.[15]
In January 2018, Praggnanandhaa tied for third place with GMAlder Escobar Forero and IM Denys Shmelov in the Charlotte Chess Center's Winter 2018 GM Norm Invitational held inCharlotte, North Carolina, with a score of 5.0/9.[16]
In July 2019, Praggnanandhaa won theXtracon Chess Open inDenmark, scoring 8½/10 points (+7–0=3).[17] On 12 October 2019, he won the World Youth Championships in the Under-18 section with a score of 9/11.[18] In December 2019, he became the second-youngest person to achieve a rating of 2600.[19] He did this at the age of 14 years, 3 months and 24 days.
In April 2021, Praggnanandhaa won the Polgar Challenge, the first leg (out of four) of the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, a rapid online event organized by Julius Baer Group and Chess24.com for young talents.[20] He scored 15.5/19, 1.5 points ahead of the next best placed competitors.[21] This win helped him qualify for the nextMeltwater Champions Chess Tour on 24 April 2021, where he finished in 10th place with a score of 7/15 (+4-5=6), including wins againstTeimour Radjabov,Jan-Krzysztof Duda,Sergey Karjakin, andJohan-Sebastian Christiansen as well as a draw against World ChampionMagnus Carlsen.[22]
Praggnanandhaa entered theChess World Cup 2021 as the 90th seed. He defeated GMGabriel Sargissian 2–0 in round 2, and advanced to round 4 after defeating GMMichał Krasenkow in the rapid tiebreaks in round 3. He was eliminated in round four byMaxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Praggnanandhaa played in the Masters section of theTata Steel Chess Tournament 2022, winning games againstAndrey Esipenko,Vidit Gujrathi andNils Grandelius, finishing in 12th place with a final score of 5½.
He was part of India-2 team in the44th Chess Olympiad, which went on to finish third and win the bronze medal.
On 20 February 2022, he became the third Indian player (afterAnand andHarikrishna) to win a game against World ChampionMagnus Carlsen in any time format, in the onlineAirthings Masters rapid tournament of theChampions Chess Tour 2022, with a 15+10 time control.[23][24] The record has since broken byGukesh D, on 16 October 2022.[25][26]
At the Chessable Masters online rapid chess tournament in May 2022, he defeated Carlsen once again, his second win over him in three months, and advanced to the finals.[27][28][29]
He also defeated Carlsen three times in the FTX Crypto Cup 2022, finishing second behind Carlsen in the final standings.[30]
In January 2023, Praggnanandhaa played in theTata Steel Chess Masters 2023. He defeated a 2800-rated grandmaster,Ding Liren, for the first time in a classical game.[31] He ended the tournament in 9th place with a score of 6/13.[32]
In theWorld Cup 2023, 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa became the world's youngest player ever to reach theWorld Cup final, defeating[33]Fabiano Caruana in tie-breaks in the semi-final. He also became the second Indian afterViswanathan Anand to reach the final in Chess World Cup history. His play[34] against former classical World Chess ChampionMagnus Carlsen in the final resulted in a defeat in the rapid tie-breaks, securing him second place and qualification for the2024 Candidates Tournament. He wasseconded during that tournament by Russian grandmasterPeter Svidler.[35]
Praggnanandhaa placed 5th out of 8 participants in the2024 Candidates Tournament, getting 7 points out of 14. Additionally, in the 3rd round of the Norway Chess 2024 tournament, he defeated Magnus Carlsen for the first time in a classical 'over the board' match.[36] At the45th Chess Olympiad in September 2024, Praggnanandhaa and his sisterVaishali were part of the Indian teams which went on to win gold medals in the Open section and Women's section respectively.[37]
Praggnanandhaa won theTata Steel Chess Tournament 2025, Masters section after defeatingGukesh D in the playoff.[38]He finished fourth in thePrague Chess Festival 2025, and 3rd place in theGrand Chess Tour Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz 2025.
In May 2025, Praggnanandhaa won theGrand Chess Tour Superbet Chess Classic Romania, scoring 5.5/9, after winning a playoff againstMaxime Vachier-Lagrave andAlireza Firouzja.[39]
In June 2025, he scored 6.5/9 and finished 2nd in theStepan Avagyan Memorial.[40]
In the same month, Praggnanandhaa won the 2nd UzChess Cup 2025 in blitz-tiebreaks[41] and signed forDutchesports clubTeam Liquid.[42] After this win, Praggnanandhaa ascended to the World No. 4 position and India No. 1 on the July 2025FIDE rankings list, and subsequently became the No. 1 rated player in India.[43][44]
| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Youngest ever Indian Grandmaster 2018–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Asian Chess Champion 2022 | Succeeded by |
