Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa currently holds the top spot with 2747 points, just ahead of Nodirbek Abdusattorov from Uzbekistan.
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The talented young Indian chess player Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has made waves by climbing to the number one spot in the world junior chess rankings this past Friday. At just 18 years old, the Chennai-based grandmaster has scored 2747 points, narrowly leading over his closest competitor, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, by a mere four points.
Praggnanandhaa became a grandmaster when he was only 12 years and 10 months old back in 2018, making him the fourth youngest person to achieve that level. His recent performance is outstanding, including a victory over Ding Liren at the Tata Masters 2024. He’s the second Indian, after Vishwanathan Anand, to beat a current World champion.
Currently, Praggnanandhaa not only heads the junior rankings but is also the world’s 13th-best player across all ages, just five points away from the 10th position held by Levon Aronian from Armenia. He’s surpassed Anand, who’s now the world’s 15th-ranked player with 2730 points.
Praggnanandhaa’s achievements are impressive for Indian chess, which is known for its strong players. Among the world’s top junior players from India are Gukesh D in third place, Nihal Sarin in sixth, and Raunak Sadhwani in seventh. They are all grandmasters who’ve shown great skill in international games.
At 18 years old, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, a young chess sensation from India, was recently highlighted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her interim budget talk. Back in 2013, when he was just a kid, Praggnanandhaa grabbed the World Youth Chess Championship title for the under-8 category, which bagged him the title of FIDE Master. Fast forward to 2015, and he took home the under-10 championship too.
Fast forward to February 2022, and he won a chess game against the world champ, Magnus Carlsen, at the online Airthings Masters. He became the third Indian to do so after Anand and Harikrishna. Gukesh D would later break this record in October of the same year. But Praggnanandhaa wasn’t done there; he beat Carlsen again in the Chessable Masters in May and made it to the finals.
He also managed to triumph over Carlsen three times during 2022’s FTX Crypto Cup, ending up second just behind Carlsen. Jump to January 2023, and Praggnanandhaa participated in the Tata Steel Chess Masters. He impressively defeated top-rated grandmaster Ding Liren in a traditional chess match for the first time, finishing 9th in the competition with a score of 6.5 out of 13.
His streak didn’t end there; at the Chess World Cup in 2023, the 18-year-old became the youngest ever finalist. After edging out Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals, he became the second Indian after Anand to reach the Chess World Cup final. Although he lost to Carlsen in the final rapid tiebreaks, Praggnanandhaa clinched second place and a spot in the 2024 Candidates Tournament.
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