India’s chess prodigy R. Praggnanandhaa has achieved a historic feat by becoming the junior World No. 1 in the FIDE rankings released on Friday. The 18-year-old grandmaster from Chennai has 2747 points, four more than the second-placed Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.
Other Indians who are in top 10 junior rankings are D Gukesh (third), Nihal Sarin (sixth) and Raunak Sadhwani (seventh).
Praggnanandhaa, who became the second youngest grandmaster in history at the age of 12 years and 10 months in 2018, has been in stellar form recently. He won the Tata Steel Chess tournament in January after defeating the world number one chess champion Ding Liren.
Praggnananda became the second Indian player after Vishwanathan Anand to defeat the defending champion.
Praggnanandhaa is not only the junior World No. 1, but also the 13th ranked player in the senior overall rankings, only five points behind the 10th placed Levon Aronian of Armenia.
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