Chess
R Praggnanandhaa becomes junior world no.1 in FIDE rankings
Praggnanandhaa is currently ranked 13 in the overall senior rankings and second among the Indian players behind the great Viswanathan Anand.
Indian chess prodigy, R Praggnanandhaa, added another feather to his crown after claiming the junior world no.1 ranking in the latest FIDE rankings released on Friday.
Praggnanandhaa claimed this spot after an outstanding performance at the Tata Steel Masters where he gained four crucial points and now he has career career-high rating of 2747.
He is currently ranked 13 in the overall senior rankings and second among the Indian players behind the great Viswanathan Anand. He is also only five points away from entering the top 10 in the senior world rankings.
He managed a crucial 7.5 points at this prestigious event after beating the reigning world champions of both men's ( Ding Liren) and women's (Ju Wenjun) categories.
Praggnanandhaa was the only player in the tournament who hadn't lost a single match in the tournament, but instead of these two big wins, he made 11 draws which hampered his chances of making it to the tiebreak playoffs. He missed it by just one point.
Alongside him, India has four more players in the top 10 junior rankings including D Gukesh, who finished runner-up at the Tata Steel Masters and gained an efficient 18 points from the tournament. Gukesh is now ranked third in the junior rankings.
Nihal Sarin at 6th, Raunak Sadhwani at 7th and Leon Luke Mendona, the champion of Tata Steel Challengers, at 10th, are the other three players in the top 10 of junior world rankings.
