Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated the World Number 1 chess player, Magnus Carlsen, in a classical ‘over the board’ match for the first time. He made this happen in the third round of the Norway Chess 2024 tournament. Let’s read ten interesting facts about this young player. 

•    R Praggnanandhaa was born on August 10, 2005, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. In his chess journey, he has won numerous awards and honours. 

•    Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali are the first brother-sister duo to earn the GM title. 

•    In 2013, Praggnanandhaa won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title. 

•    He became the youngest international master in the history of chess at the young age of 10 years old. 

•    He won the Xtracon Chess Open in Denmark in July 2019. The same year, he also won the World Youth Championships (Under-18).

•    Praggnanandhaa became the world’s youngest player to reach the finals of Chess World Cup in the year 2023. 

•    He is also the second Indian chess player after Viswanathan Anand to reach the Chess World Cup final. 

•    In the year 2022, Praggnanandhaa was honoured with the Arjuna Award. 

•    He represented India in 2022 Asian Games held in Hangzhou and clinched a silver medal. 

•    Highest ranking he has secured is No 13, which was in December 2023.