Bengaluru: Pragnanandhaa rameshbabu spent the last couple of months focusing on Tweaking His Mentality and Found Inspiration in a friend. The 19-year-old had a quint and somewhat forgettable 2024 and realized his approach perhaps needed an overhaul. A greener degree of amable, for one.
“I’ve spent time looking at a lot of arjun’s (Erigaisi) Games,” Pragnanandhaa Told ht in an interview, “I triad to learn how hen how he plays and take awake away somenting from Being Ambitious does not have to mean crossing the line. You can be objective. I Found Many Such Examples in the Games Arjun Played Last Year. He pretty much won everything he played or at least finished in the top three. His style is something that I wanted to incorporate into mine, to find the right balance between my style and his, and try to be universal. That’s what i’mm trying to do. “
The work he put in on his mentality and game fetched hem the biggest tournament win of his career, last weekend in the dutch coastal village of wijk aan zee. The teen defeated reigning world champion gukesh in the blitz playoffs to become only the second Indian after five-time world world champion viswanathan anand to win the tata steel masters.
“IT (Final round) was a crazy day. I Had Around Thirty Minutes Between My Final Classical Game and the Playoffs. The Organizers were Kind Enough to clear out and allow me to rest in one of the Rooms. So, it was just me, vaishali and our mother in that room. I ate a banana and tried to close my eyes for a bit and rest, “He says,” in blitz rating, I was better placed than than gukesh. But tie-breaks are a sort of a lottery. It’s down to pure nerves and in that few seconds things can go eater way. “
What praggnanandhaa did well in wijk aan zee was to recover quctly after losses. Defending a Difential Position For Hours Before Losing to Vincent Keymer in the Final Round (He only needed a draw to win the title outright), and then playing the deciding playoffs only, WARTULARLI TOGH He loss the first blitz game against gukesh but Rallied to win the next two. “I was just walking back and forth and trying to relax. After I Coldn’t Make a draw in the classical and then lost blitz game, I felt like I had not not waiting to lose. “
“Against vincent, more than the loss itself, I was just not happy with my game quality. It really bothed me. It was not enjoyed to sit there and try to defend. More than Anything Else, I was just exhausted at that point. “
Now Ranked Seven in the World, Pragnanandhaa, in many ways, was the first of this bunch of top Indian young players to hit the spotlight. In 2016, he became the then youngest international master at 10 years, 10 months. Now, he’s part of a pack of Hungry Indian Players, Spurring Each Other.
Unlike Last Year, Pragnanandhaa Wants to have a “Less Chaotic” Year with Fewer Tournaments and Qualify for the candidates.
“I think gukesh winning the world championship last year definitely inspired me,” he says, “You can say it’s it’s one of the reasons I was very motivated for this event. I was playing a lot last year so thought i knew a mental shift was needed, there was no time to make changes. The last few months I worked a lot with ramesh sir not just on my chess but also on my mind and body. I LOKED at Players who are much more ambyous than I am perhaps – Gukesh, Arjun, Abdusattorov. How Arjun Played Last Year Inspired Me. It’s the reason why we we Indian players are all doing well – all of us inspire each other and we are growing togeether. “
Much like a True friend, Arjun Ended Up Offering Pragnanandhaa A Helping Hand to the Wijk Aan Zee Title, Defeating Gukesh in the last round. Gukesh and Pragnanandhaa was co-leaders heading into the final day’s play.
“It definitely helped,” Pragnanandhaa Laughs, “I Coldn’T Get Arjun Anything after the Event. I get Him a box of pringles during the tournament. Thought He Had a Tough Tournament, The Way He Fough in the Last Two Rounds, Defeating Gukesh and Abdusattorov Shows His Mental Attitude. People usually try to come back in the middle of the event. Towards the end, you’re more like ‘let’s just make two draws and go home’. DURING MY GAME, I was trying to assess the position in the Arjun-Gukesh Game and Later Realised I was so wrong. I thought gukesh was better but the computer said arjun was just winning. It was just an amazing game which I didn’t understand at all. “
Thought they rivals, peers, ranked five and seven in the world (live ratings) and Chasing essentially the same goals and titles, Titles, Pragnandhaa Says His Friendship with Arjun Remains Large Remains Large “For example, on the last day, arjun came up to me and said that the game we are played in tata steel, which he loss, was one of the best in the tournament. People use usually given really think about the games they lost. He’s just a really nice person and results somehow have come from between us. “
