How sister's hobby shaped young chess wizard Praggnanandhaa's life

Praggnanandhaa made chess his life's calling pretty early on, picking up the nuances of the game at an age when most kids are classified as toddlers. All of 3 when he took to the sport after his elder sister Vaishali was introduced to it to wean her away from watching too many cartoon shows on TV, the currently 16 Praggnanandhaa is now the next big thing in Indian chess.

Read AlsoVictory against Magnus Carlsen one of the best till date for me: Praggnanandhaa

Sixteen-year-old R Praggnanandhaa isn't an unknown commodity in Indian chess circles. But what he did in the early hours of Monday made the world of 64 squares sit up and take note.

Touted as the one for the future when he became an International Master at the tender age of 10 years and nine months in 2016, Praggu, as he is fondly called by his friends and coaches, has made giant strides and on Sunday he notched up the biggest win of his career by upstaging world number one Magnus Carlsen. It was a special feat considering that he is only the third Indian after the great Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna to beat the Norwegian superstar, who is the reigning world champion. For Praggnanandhaa, the journey began when life was a bit of a blur for most youngsters.

Read AlsoI was just enjoying myself, says teen GM Praggnanandhaa after stunning World No. 1 Carlsen in Airthings Masters

Teenaged Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa stunned world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament, becoming only the third from the country to clinch a victory over the Norwegian superstar.

His polio-afflicted bank employee father Rameshbabu and mother Nagalakshmi were worried that Vaishali was spending too much time in front of the