With Viswanathan Anand kicking off India's dominance and now mentoring young prodigies, India is fast becoming the chess powerhouse of the world
During her Budget speech, Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman made a quick segue to give a shoutout to teenage chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa.
“Chess prodigy and our Number One ranked player Praggnanandhaa put up a stiff fight against the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in 2023. Today, India has over 80 chess Grandmasters (GM) compared to a little over 20 in 2010,” she said, while lauding the country’s youth for scaling new heights in sports.