CHENNAI — Chess players and others will be looking at the match between 18-year old Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa (ELO 2707) and American GM Fabiano Caruana (2782) at the ongoing FIDE World Cup at Baku, Azerbaijan.
Whether Praggnanandhaa makes it to the Candidates Tournament - where the winner would challenge the world champion for the world title - is the question that occupies the mind of this mind game players and followers.
As per the International Chess Federation or FIDE’s rule, the top three players in the World Cup will qualify for the Candidates Tournament.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]And Caruana should be careful because for Praggnanandhaa, giant slaying is not new and he has done that in this tournament as well by defeating far more higher-rated players, including US GM Hikaru Nakamura, world No. 2 by rating.
The other semifinal match is between world No. 1 and former world champion Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) and Azerbaijan GM Nijat Abasov (2646). For Carlsen, the semifinal is expected to be a cake walk as his opponent is far more lower rated, unless there is a great upset.
India has never performed so well in the World Cup Open Category in the past, though former world champion GM Viswanathan Anand had won the tournament earlier when it was held under a different format.
At Baku this time around, four Indian GMs -- Praggnanandhaa, D. Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi -- made it to the quarterfinals in a field of over 250 players.
“The results speak for the performance of the Indian players. In the earlier World Cup edition, we never had a player going into the fifth round. This time there were four Indian players in the quarterfinals,” GM Pravin Thipsay told IANS.
“I don’t remember seeing so many players from one country playing in the quarterfinals in the new format,” Thipsay added. When queried about the performance of the Indian players, GM Emil Sutovsky, CEO, FIDE, said an expected breakthrough has happened.
“Great performance by the young Indians. Everybody was expecting a major breakthrough and it happened here,” Sutvovsky told IANS. Apart from Praggnanandhaa, there was one more giant slayer from the Indian side. And that was Gujrathi.
The Indian youngster defeated world No. 5 GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2779) of Russia. “It has been a good tournament for most Indian players. Everyone gave their best and achieved reasonably good success,” GM R.B. Ramesh told IANS.
However, the winning streak of the three young Indians came to an end in the quarterfinals with Gukesh going down to Carlsen, Gujrathi to Abasov, and Erigaisi to Praggnanandhaa.
According to Thipsay, the 44th Chess Olympiad held in Chennai last year played an important role for the youngsters in more than one way.
“India wouldn't have been able to field additional teams had the Olympiad been held elsewhere. The 11th seeded India B team consisting of young players won the bronze medal ahead of several strong teams. It was an unbelievable performance,” Thipsay said.
The India A team had secured fourth place in the Olympiad. Thipsay added that the young players realised that they were not worse than the players supposed to be strong.
Team bronze medal apart, the young Indian GMs also won medals for their individual performance. For instance, Gukesh won the gold for the top board performance ahead of Carlsen. Similarly, GM Nihal Sarin, Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa also won board prizes ahead of much-fancied and higher-rated players.
Interestingly, Gukesh was the 'Rajnikanth’ (the Tamil superstar who is known to make unbelievable feats on the silver screen) of the Olympiad, winning seven games continuously.
“The youngsters were not overawed by their opponents’ ratings or standings. They played without fear. At the Olympiad, their own strengths were revealed,” Thipsay said.
“For years, Indian chess players were content being at the top 20 or 25. Now these youngsters will not be happy being even in the top 10. They would want to be top one or two,” he added.
The immediate question is will Praggnanandhaa make it to the Candidates Tournament on his own steam from the World Cup by defeating Caruana?
It is said Carlsen will not be playing in the Candidates Tournament. In that case, all the other semifinalists -- Caruana, Abasov, Praggnanandhaa -- will go to the Candidates Tournament.
When queried, Sutovsky said Carlsen’s decision is not official. But if he doesn't play in the Candidates, the other three semifinalists will qualify for the event.
Be that as it may, all is not lost for the other three Indian players -- Gujrathi, Gukesh and Erigaisi -- to take a shot at the world champion title.
“There are a couple of other tournaments the Indian players can play and get qualified for the Candidates Tournament. The other three players reached the quarterfinals in this strong tournament. Hence, they can still qualify for the Candidates.
"That said, the Indian government and the All India Chess Federation (AICF) should provide all kind of assistance to the youngsters to become the world champion,” International Arbiter and chess coach R.R. Vasudevan told IANS.
(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at v.jagannnathan@ians.in)