Praggnanandhaa overtakes Vishwanathan Anand in ratings and becomes 2nd Indian to defeat a World Champion

Indian Chess Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu became the top ranked Indian in the worldwide rankings. He went past Vishwanthanan Anand by a narrow margin of 0.3 points after defeating the World Champion from China Ding Liren in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. “It was a strange game. I don’t know what happened with him because I felt I equalised very easily and somehow things started to go wrong for him. Even after I won the pawn I thought it should be holdable. But after I traded my bishops I thought I should be closer to a win. Still a few tricks left to be implemented. Even in the end, I was unsure of F4 but I thought it was winning and went ahead with it. It is always special to beat such a strong player because it is not easy. It is my first time winning against a world champion in classical chess. I think I am playing really well. But last year I was playing really till some point but then my game fell short. I think it is very important to keep the energy high till the end of the tournament. In such tournaments it is always important to make a comeback after losing one match. I was unable to do that last year,” he said in a media interaction after the game. 

Anish Giri is currently leading the chart in the tournament with 3.5 points. Alireza Firouzja is at the second spot falling behind by 0.5 points. Praggnanandhaa is at the third spot with 2.5 points heading into the rest day.