 "image")
Who is Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa?
Indian chess grandmaster (GM) Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated the world number one chess champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters rapid online chess tournament in February 2022.
Born on August 10, 2005 in Tamil Nadu, he is the fifth-youngest person ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM), behind Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D and Javokhir Sindarov.
The Chennai-based teenager is the younger sibling of chess player Vaishali Rameshbabu who is a two-time youth chess champion. He practices 4-5 hours on daily basis and is coached by R B Ramesh. He idolises Vishwanathan Anand and Mangus Carlsen.
Praggnanandhaa, who learned the sport at the age of five, became India's youngest and the world's second youngest GM at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 13 days while playing in the Grenadine Open in Italy in 2016.
He won his first Grand Master norm at the World Junior Championships in Tarvisio in November 2017.
He achieved his second norm by winning the Herkalion Fischer Memorial Grand Master Norm tournament in Greece in April 2018.