Prime Minister Narendra Modi with FIDE World Cup 2023 runner-up Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa and his parents Rameshbabu and Nagalakshmi, in New Delhi, on August 31, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Following his brilliant performance in the International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Cup, 18-year-old Chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
Praggnanandhaa expressed delight at his visit and shared the news with his fans through X (formerly known as Twitter). He thanked PM Modi for encouraging him and his parents. “It was a great honour to meet Hon’ble Prime Minister @narendramodi at his residence! Thank you sir for all the words of encouragement to me and my parents,” the young Chess star posted on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).
On August 24, World No 1 Magnus Carlsen defeated India’s grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa to clinch the title of the International Chess Federation World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Norwegian chess grandmaster won the first game of the Rapid Chess tie-breaker with black pieces and managed to hold on for a draw in the second game with white pieces. The tiebreaker is played in a Rapid Chess quicker-time control format.
Praggnanandhaa fought hard but fell short with Carlsen summoning all his big match experience when it mattered the most. Earlier, Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen drew both their games of Classical Chess.
Praggnanandhaa had to settle for the position of runner-up of the 2023 FIDE World Cup but he will draw hope from the fact that he has qualified for the FIDE Candidates tournament.
The 2024 Candidates Tournament will be an eight-player chess tournament scheduled to be held from 2 April to 25 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada.
The winner of the tournament will become the challenger for the 2024 World Chess Championship match.
Praggnanandhaa had an excellent tournament where he defeated World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura in a tie-breaker while reaching the final defeating World No 3 Fabiano Caruana.