Ability to defend in precarious game situations is hallmark of Pragg talent: India coach

Chennai: R Praggnanandhaa's ability to defend seamlessly in pressure situations and the deductive mind to quickly gauge his opponent's weakness is the hallmark of a world class player, national coach GM M Shyam Sundar said on Tuesday.

The Indian champion now faces the Norwegian superstar Magnus Carlsen in the final of the FIDE World Cup, one of the game's biggest events. According to GM Shyam, who is in Baku, Praggnanandhaa has an all-round game.

"One of his biggest strengths is his ability to defend bad positions even against the absolute elite. His calculational abilities are excellent and he can confidently convert better positions to a win," he said.

Most importantly, Praggnanandhaa is good in all formats, he reckons.

"I believe that's one of the key factors that helped him reach the finals (here)! He also felt that "Pragg has very strong family support. The positive energy is definitely a bliss for him."

Also, the emergence of a bunch of talented youngsters and a healthy competition among them was making the players excel.

"It is heartening to see the growth of guys like D Gukesh, Pragg, Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, etc. There is healthy competition among them and they keep excelling."

"Hoping to see these stars consistently perform well and inspire many more to take up the sport," Shyam added.

Terming Praggnanandhaa's rise as incredible, GM Sundararajan Kidambi, opined that his performance is an indication of how chess was growing rapidly in India.

"Praggnanandhaa's rise is incredible...I have followed him from his younger days, becoming an IM at a young age and then going all the way up. He could have even become the youngest Grandmaster ever by winning World Junior, which he missed narrowly.

"He has beaten Carlsen in online blitz/ rapid games, which caused a sensation and within a year has qualified to meet him in the world cup final. The rise is stunning," he added.

Listing Pragg, Gukesh, Arjun and Nihal among those to watch out for, Kidambi said, "Our coming generation is in safe hands and we can safely make a bet that one of these players will surely become World Champion at some point of time..." The Chennai-based GM said, "I really am astounded at their growth, but we couldn't have asked for a better thing to happen to Indian chess.

Super quick rise and that too an army of youngsters have come up, we have become like the old Soviet Union- talent churning machine!"

Earlier this week, pictures of Praggnanandhaa, who turned 18 during the ongoing FIDE World Cup chess tourney in Baku, with his mother Nagalakshmi, went viral on social media. (PTI)