R Praggnanandhaa

Biography

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa was born on 10 August 2005 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to Rameshbabu, a bank branch manager, and Nagalakshmi, who has traveled with him to tournaments since his early childhood. His older sister Vaishali Rameshbabu is also a grandmaster — the two are the first brother-and-sister pair in history to both hold the GM title, and later became the first siblings to both qualify for a Candidates Tournament. His rise through the junior ranks was rapid: he won the World Youth Under-8 Championship in 2013, the Under-10 title in 2015, and became the youngest International Master in history in 2016 at 10 years, 10 months and 19 days. He completed his final grandmaster norm at the Gredine Open in Urtijëi, Italy, defeating Luca Moroni in the deciding round on 23 June 2018 to earn the GM title at 12 years, 10 months and 13 days — at the time the second-youngest grandmaster in history, behind only Sergey Karjakin.

Praggnanandhaa's breakthrough on the senior stage came at the 2023 FIDE World Cup in Baku, where, still 18, he eliminated Hikaru Nakamura in an earlier knockout round, edged out compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in a tiebreak quarterfinal, and outlasted Fabiano Caruana in a semifinal tiebreak to reach the final — becoming the youngest player in history to do so, and only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to reach a World Cup final. Magnus Carlsen won the final 2.5–1.5 after three classical draws and a rapid tiebreak, but the run carried its own reward: qualification for the 2024 Candidates Tournament in Toronto, his first appearance in a world championship qualifier, where he finished 5th of 8 with 7/14, including a win over compatriot Vidit Gujrathi.

He has represented India in two Chess Olympiads, helping the country to bronze on board 3 for India's second team in Chennai in 2022 (6½/9) and to historic open-section gold on board 2 in Budapest in 2024 (6/10) — India's first-ever double Olympiad gold, alongside a women's team that included his sister Vaishali. He also won a team silver medal for India at the 2022 Asian Games (held in Hangzhou in 2023). In January 2025 he won the Tata Steel Masters outright, beating Gukesh Dommaraju in a blitz playoff to become the tournament's first Indian champion since Viswanathan Anand in 2006, and reached a career-high FIDE rating of 2785 that September. His 2026 season has been the strongest of his career: he won Norway Chess in June with four consecutive classical victories, added his first Grand Chess Tour rapid/blitz title at the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz in August, and closed the season by coming back from six points down to win the season-ending Grand Chess Tour Finals, defeating Fabiano Caruana 15–13.

Key achievements

• Second-youngest grandmaster in history at 12 years, 10 months, 13 days (June 2018), behind only Sergey Karjakin
• Youngest FIDE World Cup finalist ever: 2023 runner-up in Baku, defeating Nakamura, Erigaisi and Caruana en route
• 2024 Candidates Tournament, Toronto: 5th place, 7/14
• Chess Olympiad team gold with India, Budapest 2024; team silver, 2022 Asian Games
• Tata Steel Masters champion 2025 — first Indian winner since Anand (2006)
• Grand Chess Tour and Norway Chess champion, 2026; career-high FIDE rating 2785 (Sep 2025)

Ratings

Titles

Classical Tournaments

Team Events

Source: OlimpBase (olimpbase.org) individual Olympiad records, cross-checked with Wikipedia.

Read more on Wikipedia or view his FIDE profile.