New Delhi [India], August 22 : After Indian chess Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa created history by advancing to the final of the FIDE World Cup, his coach RB Ramesh expressed his immense pride in Praggnanandhaa's exceptional performance in the global tournament and said that he is optimistic about Prags chances in view of the openings strategies discussed.
Praggnanandhaa defeated World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana to reach the final of the FIDE World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan on Monday. The Indian prodigy managed to beat the American player 3.5-2.5 after tiebreaks.
“I am extremely proud that he has been doing phenomenally well in this World Cup and he qualified for the World Cup final. And what I hear is he is the youngest to do so. And also he is the only Indian to qualify for the final,” coach Ramesh told ANI.
Listing out astounding accomplishments of Praggnanandhaa at such a young age, his coach said, “He has already created many world records in the past, for example at the age of 10, he became the world's youngest international chess master, there are only two titles given to chess players and he achieved one at the age of 10. At the age of 12, he became the 2nd youngest to achieve the grandmaster title. At the age of 14, he crossed the 2600 rating which was the youngest to cross the 2600 rating."
Praggnanandhaa will face World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen for the title clash on Tuesday.
When asked about the much-awaited match between Praggnanandhaa and Magnus, his coach Ramesh said that both have played each other before and the match will be an exciting one.
"He has played Magnus many times. He has defeated the World champion five times in the last one-year and so. It is not new that they are playing against each other. Tomorrow will be an exciting match.
This is the highest platform where they are meeting each other. The last time they played was in January when they played longer time control, he had played a draw against Magnus with the black pieces which was a good result," he further said.
Praggnanandhaa's coach is optimistic that the Indian Grandmaster will win the title.
"I am very optimistic about Prags chances. he needs to get a good night's sleep today, definitely, that will be very crucial.
"He is already feeling really good about himself, he knows that he is playing well, so there is not much to give advice to him. But, we just briefly discuss his opening strategies."
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