Meet 11-yr-old who could be world’s youngest Grandmaster

Praggnanandhaa, youngest International Master, can claim the coveted chess norm in a few months

IN THE crowded verandah of Ramesh Babu’s one-storey apartment in Padi, on the outskirts of Chennai, is a purplerimmed bicycle, its wheels smeared with fresh mud and earth. It belongs to Babu’s 11year-old son Praggnanandhaa, one of the several gifts he received when he became the world’s youngest International Master in October.

Glancing at the cycle, Babu summons his son and tells him softly not to dirty the house. “Intha cycle-aale romba thalavali (This cycle is a big headache),” he says.

Praggnanandhaa obediently nods, but then jumps onto the bicycle and is away in a blur, past the half-open gate on to the crammed bylane. With a wistful smile, Babu says: “He’s restless. It’s his age, let him be.”

Perhaps, Babu knows that his son — Pragga, as they call him — can seldom let himself “be”. For, being the youngest IM comes with an imposing baggage: the pursuit of becoming the youngest ever Grandmaster, a norm he can achieve as soon as March next year. “He doesn’t seem to feel any pressure. But sometimes, we feel (the pressure). It’s his age,” says Babu.

Fifteen minutes later, Pragga returns, the bicycle’s wheels muddied further. But this time, he carefully parks it in the garden, his face hardly showing any strain of someone who is about to embark on his Grandmaster quest from December 8 in London (Classic Open). “He is always like that, he has zero tension,” says Babu.

Deep inside, though, Pragga has worked out his calculations. He is exactly 11 years, three months and four days old today. To break the record of Russian Sergey Karjakin, who became a Grandmaster at the age of 12 years and seven months, he still has nearly 16 months left. Ask Pragga, and he replies confidently: “I think I can do it before I turn 12.”

To put this dream in perspective, world champion Magnus Carlsen became a Grandmaster seven months past his 13th birthday. India’s first Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand completed the norm

He has zero tension, says Praggnanandhaa’s father