The Praggnanandhaa Story: How Sister's Hobby Shaped Chess Wizard's Life

It was a hobby acquired from his sister but R 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. 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 best the Norwegian superstar, who is the reigning world champion.

For Praggnanandhaa, the journey began when life is a bit of a blur for most youngsters.

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

The intent behind introducing her to chess was to wean her away from her favourite cartoon shows.

Who would have known that it would end up inspiring a wizard of the sport at home as Praggnanandhaa's interest in Vaishali's new hobby became his life's calling.

"We had introduced Vaishali to chess so as to cut down on her TV viewing habits as a child. As it happened, the two children liked the game and decided to pursue it," Rameshbabu recalled.

"We are happy the two were able to make it big in the sport. More importantly, we are delighted that they are enjoying themselves by playing the