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R Praggnanandhaa sits there, a dash of temple ash on his forehead, full-sleeved light blue shirt buttoned down neatly at the wrist, legs shaking incessantly, quietly staring at what lies in front of him. Zoom in and that's just a boy from any neighbourhood in India. A little studious looking, a little quiet, not at all athletic, dressed exactly how an Indian parent would want their son to be at a formal function. Now, zoom out. What lies in front of him is a chessboard, and sitting across it, long-time world No. 1 and arguably the greatest chess player of all time, Magnus Carlsen. In that image lies the magic of Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, India's most exciting chess player since a certain Viswanathan Anand broke onto the scene.  For an Indian sports fan, Praggnanandhaa is one of them - not some unattainable athletic Adonis a la Neeraj Chopra - and yet he's one of the world's best. He may have just turned 18 this month, but he's already done something only Anand had before him as an Indian: qualify for the Candidates tournament, the winner of whom will play the World Championship. And he did it in the hardest way possible. That image with Carlsen was from the final of the 2023 Chess World Cup (the top three here go to the Candidates), and it's a final he reached while beating the world numbers two and three (Fabiano Caruano and Hikaru Nakamura) en-route. Where Carslen Carlsen-ed his way to this final (9 wins, 8 draws, just 1 loss), Praggnanandhaa had to take the long way round (10 wins, 14 draws, 3 losses). To put it in, say, football terms, this is France vs Croatia 2018: heavily favoured team reaches final easily, underdog gets there by taking every knockout game to extra-time and/or penalties. Praggnanandhaa arrived at the final knackered - chess can be surprisingly exhausting, physically, but his chances were made brighter by Carlsen getting food poisoning. Praggnanandhaa had varied his strategies through the tournament, attacking against opponents he felt were equal, playing immense defensive games against those ranked so much higher (sidebar: he's world rank 27 right now). "One of his biggest strengths is his ability to defend bad positions even against the absolute elite," said GM Shyam Sundar, the national team coach. There's a flexibility here that's a key strength; and it was on full display during the final too. Defending well against Carlsen in the two classical matches and surprising Carlsen with an aggressive opening in the first rapid tie-breaker. But it wasn't to be... Praggnanandhaa had beaten Carlsen before, mostly in the online competitions that became all the rage during the pandemic, but this was big-game Carlsen hunting for the one trophy missing from his cabinet. And to just push big-game Carlsen to tiebreaks, to forcing him to bring out his A-game towards the end, is an achievement in itself. This World Cup silver, on debut, is quite the achievement, as is that confirmed Candidates appearance. Just last year he was playing (and winning) tournaments "[because] it was a study break during my exams. I thought I would play at night and study in the morning." There's a big-game mentality here that's become pretty evident now - beating the world No 2 and 3 and then pushing the highest-rated No 1 of all time into tie-breaks is just that. It's why Carlsen called Praggnanandhaa a "mentality monster." It's a rise to the top that's as breath-taking as it always appeared destined. Amid the flood of GMs in India over the past few years, there was always something different about this unassuming Chennai teen: youngest International Master in history at the time (10 years old), second youngest Grand Master ever at that point (12 years old), and crossing a rating of 2400 at 14.  This track record meant that he was always in and around the limelight, but this World Cup has cemented his place under the spotlight. The wider mainstream media, and social media, have largely ignored three other world championships in which Indians are participating (badminton, athletics, and shooting) to focus on Praggnanandhaa. He's even been jostling for public attention with a historic moon landing (Chandrayaan-3) - a marker of just how much affection he's gathering. Where the ardent chess fan always knew Praggnanandhaa was just that bit special, this tournament run has made the wider, casual audience aware of his genius too. He's done it without his decade-long coach RB Ramesh by his side, trusting his own instincts, his patterns ('sleeping at least nine hours, not skipping meals, taking evening walks, preparing four hours ahead of each match,' per Ramesh), another marker of how he's grown into the position he now finds himself in: a potential challenger to the world champion Ding Liren. There was, though, someone by his side the whole tournament. Indeed, she's been there throughout his career... his mother, Nagalakshmi. As a picture of her looking adoringly at her son giving a post-match interview went viral, you could see why. Her demeanour and the pure love, the pride, in her eyes resonated with an Indian audience that felt that warmth flowing through the photo. It's the kind of relatability, along with his own general disposition, that means he's now one of Indian sports' favourites. Repeat these World Cup heroics at the Candidates and this burst of promise will soon translate to a very real possibility that a path could open up, right up to the seat next to Viswanathan Anand in the pantheon of Indian sporting heroes.
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