On January 16, chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa made history by securing a victory against world champion Ding Liren in the ongoing TATA Steel Chess Tournament. This achievement propelled him beyond the seasoned chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, marking Praggnanandhaa’s inaugural ascent to the top spot as the No. 1 ranked Indian Grandmaster in his career.
The victory over the world champion from China took Praggnanandhaa by surprise as he was not expecting the former to go down so easily.
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Praggnanandhaa Reflects on Historic Win Over Ding Liren:
“I felt I equalized very easily and then somehow things started to go wrong for him. Even after I won the pawn I felt it should be holdable,” Praggnanandhaa was quoted as saying by Chess.com.
“I think any day, if you beat such a strong player, it’s always special because it’s not very easy to beat them. The first time winning against a world champion in classical chess feels good,” he added.
Praggnanandhaa seemed content with the kind of start he has got in the tournament but is wary of the challenges that lie ahead of him.
“It’s good. I think the first three games were quite interesting. I think I am playing well but it was the same case last year. There was a point when I was playing really well and then my play dropped quite badly so I think it’s really important to keep the energy high till the end of the tournament.”