Internet Erupt As R Praggnanandhaa Becomes India's No. 1 Men's Chess Player
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa once again made India proud as he defeated China's Ding Liren, the current world champion, in the 4th round of the Tata Steel Masters tournament
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa once again made India proud as he defeated China's Ding Liren, the current world champion, in the 4th round of the Tata Steel Masters tournament on Wednesday. With this win, the chess prodigy has become India's top-ranked men's chess player, going past veteran Viswanathan Anand. Praggnanandhaa has been receiving warm wishes from all over the world as everyone lauded the 18-year-old champion on his vast accomplishment. Chairman of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani also did not shy away from congratulating Praggnanandhaa.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Adani called Praggnanandhaa's victory over Ding Liren an "astonishing moment".
Tremendously proud of your achievement, Pragg. What an astonishing moment, defeating the reigning World Champion Ding Liren of China and becoming India's top-rated player. This is truly a proud moment for our nation! @rpraggnachess #TataSteelChess https://t.co/2ZSEbtZ9Ke
— Gautam Adani (@gautam_adani) January 17, 2024
Not just Adani but the fans also took to social media and congratulated Praggnanandhaa for his victory.
The historic moment when Praggnanandhaa defeated World Champion Ding Liren pic.twitter.com/IX91s5rAcP
— Utsav (@utsav__45) January 16, 2024
Praggnanandhaa beats the reigning World Chess Champion Ding Liren🇨🇳 with the black pieces, in the 4th round of Tata Steel chess
— Rambo (@monster_zero123) January 17, 2024
With this he becomes the 2nd ever indian after Vishy to beat a reigning world champion.
Pragg is now India no1 in live ratings#Chess
Big win for #Indian #chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa as he beats #worldchampion Ding Liren at the Tata Steel Masters event.
— Alisakhan (@Alisakhan620942) January 17, 2024
He has surpassed #Viswanathan Anand to become the No. 1 ranked #Indianchessplayer.#LoveIslandAllStars #Pakistan #jjk248 #snow #bigbrothernlbe pic.twitter.com/z3UNTOHpgU
After the match, Praggnanandhaa said he was surprised with the outcome as he didn't expect the world champion to get ousted in such a fashion.
"I felt I equalized very easily and then somehow things started to go wrong for him. Even after I won the pawn I felt it should be holdable," Praggnanandhaa was quoted as saying by Chess.com.
"I think any day, if you beat such a strong player, it's always special because it's not very easy to beat them. The first time winning against a world champion in classical chess feels good," he added.