Like a typically vibrant teenager, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa exudes all his confidence to earn the world champion tag. But for that to happen, he needs to come across many a “tough steps ahead”, Viswanathan Anand emphasised.
“It’s good... He seems confident. But again, you have to prove it, and very few people have been able to do so.
“I don’t mean that to mock him or anything. I’m saying he will need to be aware that there are a lot of tough steps ahead. And even if your odds are very good, you have to actually pull it off because only one person will get through, and that’s a very, very high bar,” Anand said on the sidelines of the Tata Steel Chess India-Rapid & Blitz tournament on Tuesday.
Anand though backed the commitment and hard-working nature of Praggnanandhaa, who’s also one of his wards at the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy. “He’s fully aware of that (high bar).
“He’s working very hard, his commitment to knowledge is second to none and again, he just finished the World Cup, did a good result — six-and-a-half out of 7 — and then he comes here.
“He’s travelling all over the country, attending one function after another, comes here and starts with a win. I think he understands the demands of the game and he’s willing to do the hard yards,” he said.
Asked if Praggu, as the teen is better known, could go on to be his successor, Anand replied: “Is he my successor? Well, let’s see. I mean, we will know the answer soon enough in a way, so why talk about it?”
Elaborating on his assessment of the current crop of youngsters being India’s “golden generation”, the chess icon said: “The reason I said this is because, with the exception of Arjun (Erigaisi) who became 20 maybe two days ago, they’re all teenagers which means, very conservatively for the next 10 years, in every top tournament, we, as Indians, can hope for one of our players there to watch out and root for.
“So, it’s a great time to be an Indian chess fan as well. And that’s not even the full story. There are many, many more.
“Even among the girls, we’re getting very exciting talents. Slowly, they’re coming in. Divya (Deshmukh) surprised very nicely here. So, it’s exciting on all sides.”
Asian Games prospects
Anand does have faith in India’s chess contingent for the upcoming Asian Games but seems wary of the threat Uzbekistan and China pose. “I’m always nervous to just look at the rankings and think, ‘Oh, we’re going to win this, we’re going to win that’.
“There are other very good teams. Uzbekistan is good, so is Vietnam. China, too, will field a great contingent. So, we’ll have rivals, but you can’t ask for a better team than we have.”
