Chennai boy Praggnanandhaa, who is marked as a bright talent by chess fraternity, lived up to his billing by becoming the youngest International Master on Sunday and observers say that with the right resources, he could become the youngest GM too.
According to his coach and Grandmaster R.B. Ramesh, it was just a natural progression for the talented boy.
Extremely talented Speaking to The Hindu here on Monday, Ramesh who has been coaching the 10-year-old for the last three years, said, “He is extremely talented and it was no doubt he achieved this feat.
“He has beaten the record by nearly a year.”
The class six student from Velammal MHSS, Mogappair, drew the final game on Monday against Debashis Das at the KIIT International Festival of Chess in Bhubaneswar which meant he missed the GM-norm by half a point.
Focus Ramesh said while everyone wanted to see Praggnanandhaa become the youngest GM in the world, the main focus was to make sure the boy enjoyed chess without worrying about rankings.
Different approach “We have a different approach to others. If we put pressure of rankings, then when things get difficult one might lose interest. He has to enjoy the game.”
Praggnanandhaa’s father A. Ramesh Babu echoed the coach’s views saying, “We were not focused on this feat when we decided to play this tournament.
“We are making sure not to bother him about the rankings as he is still very young. We are focusing on arranging funds to send him abroad.”
Speaking about Praggnanandhaa’s strengths, Ramesh said, “he is extremely talented. He has a very good middle and end games.
“We need to work on the opening but that can be done after he becomes a GM too.”
Now the focus, according to his coach, is to find sponsorships and support to travel abroad and compete in tournaments there.
““He has all the qualities to become a GM in a year or so but we just need the resources.”
