Praggnanandhaa’s success a new Indian assault at the top of world chess: Viswanathan Anand

The chess World Cup final had been decided a couple of hours earlier but the excitement in Viswanathan Anand’s voice was still palpable. It was despite his protégé Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa having lost the final to world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. Anand spoke with BORIA MAJUMDAR about what this achievement means, how it can help Indian chess going forward, and Praggnanandhaa. Excerpts:

Finally, India has someone after you who made it to the World Cup final and created history. This is among the best achievements of Indian chess. And as someone who started it all, you must be proud.
It is a huge achievement. He’s the first person after me to reach the final of a World Cup. And in the process qualify for the Candidates Tournament. So in a sense, it represents an almost new assault at the top of world chess after my retirement. That’s what gives me the most satisfaction. You know you are leaving a game that is robust and the future of the sport is in safe hands with this golden generation all doing well.


What also stands out is how this achievement has captured the national imagination. And even after he finished second, he is being celebrated.
It’s also very nice that the timing of this event comes after the last three years of postpandemic healing, when chess boomed in multiple ways. I won’t repeat everything that I have said before. But you remember The Queen’s Gambit, online entertainment, connectivity apps and all these things which helped in growing the game. Online chess became a phenomenon, and we had a huge number of people playing the sport. The constituency increased. There was discussion and chat groups and all.

This is now an achievement for this new era and it shows that in the age of social media, chess achievements can be very, very relevant and very much in the public eye. The interest in the final and the way people in India have celebrated the entire tournament is evidence of this.

It is pointing to a very good future for the sport in India.
It is a fantastic achievement for Dommaraju Gukesh (lost to Magnus Carlsen in quarterfinals) and Praggnanandhaa and more so because of their age (17 and 18 respectively). Look at when they are becoming grandmasters. They are doing so at 12 or 14 years of age. That’s incredible. I became grandmaster at 18 and now the age has been pushed up by 4-5 years. It tells you how good this crop is and how much they can accomplish in the years to come. It has been a step by step process but I can tell you this is the golden generation for Indian chess. It was evident in the Olympiad when I did not even play and we were close to winning the gold medal. So yes, the future of the sport really looks good in India.

Both Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh call you their hero. I remember the Chess Olympiad and the match that Gukesh lost. India could have won gold had he won. He was devastated and you decided to reach out and spend time with him. This is a perfect mentor-protégé story and augurs so well for Indian chess.
Yes, he could have won that game. He had played spectacularly well right through the Chess Olympiad and was mentally in that zone where you believe that nothing can go wrong for you in the world. You don’t see reality, for you are in that mindset. In that game, Gukesh could and should have won. But then he let the position flip and by then Praggu had won his match. That meant if Gukesh had drawn his game, India could have still won gold. But Gukesh kept playing because he was sure of winning. It has happened to me. It will happen to them as well.

Even now when I think of those games I kind of squirm and close my eyes and don’t want to face them. So, I know what he must have gone through or was going through then. That’s why I decided to reach out to him. I wanted to talk to him and just be there for him. They are my students and I know the families very well. So, when I met Gukesh, we spoke about my experiences from the past and how such things happen in sport.

We spoke for around 15 minutes and then played table tennis for an hour. I have always tried to help them in my own little way and I hope it works for them.

With Gukesh in the top 10 and Praggnanandhaa in the top 20, clearly there is a lot of potential in Indian chess at the moment. But do you see any one of these players become the next world champion and dominate the sport?
I absolutely do. A few years back, when I used to see them, I used to feel they had the potential to get there. But it was more of a visualisation. I still had to imagine a few things. Now that is not the case. I can now see them getting there. They absolutely have the potential to be the best in the world and be the world champion. But to have potential is one thing, to actually win is another. That’s something we have to wait and see. But to answer the question, they sure have the talent and I can actually see them on course now. I will play my part in helping them on the way and will be there to applaud and celebrate when it happens.

What do you make of Magnus Carlsen winning yet another title?
Many congratulations to him. He absolutely showed his persistence and managed to win the only title that had eluded him. It shows you a lot about Magnus as a player.