Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa Height, Weight, Family, Facts, Biography

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess player who had come into the spotlight in February 2024 when he had become the youngest player to defeat Magnus Carlsen since November 2013 when the latter had become the world chess champion for the first time. He had also become just the 3rd Indian player to have defeated Carlsen in any time format after Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna.

Born Name

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa

Nick Name

Praggu

Sun Sign

Leo

Born Place

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Residence

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Nationality

Occupation

Chess Player

Family

• Father – Rameshbabu (Banking Officer)
• Mother – Nagalakshmi
• Siblings – Vaishali Rameshbabu (Older Sister) (Chess Player, Woman Grandmaster (WGM), Girls’ World Youth Chess Championship Winner in the Under-14 and Under-12 tiers)

Build

Slim

Height

5 ft 5 in or 165 cm

Weight

62 kg or 136.5 lbs

Race / Ethnicity

Asian (Indian)

Hair Color

Black

Eye Color

Dark Brown

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

• Slender frame
• Short-cropped, side-parted hair
• Affable smile
• Clean-shaven look

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa Facts

1. A child prodigy, Praggnanandhaa had won the World Youth Chess Championships Under-8 title in 2013. The feat had earned him the title of FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs) ‘Master’ at the age of just 7. In 2015, he had won the title in the under-10 tier.
2. In 2016, at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days, he had become the youngest ‘International Master’ in history.
3. At the 2017 World Junior Chess Championship, he had ended up 4th with 8 points, earning his first ‘Grandmaster’ norm. He had gained his 2nd ‘Grandmaster’ norm at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM Norm tournament in April 2018. He had attained his 3rd and final ‘Grandmaster’ norm at the Gredine Open in Italy in June 2018.
4. At the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days, he was the then 2nd-youngest person ever to have achieved the rank of ‘Grandmaster’ after Sergey Karjakin (12 years and 7 months).
5. In July 2019, he had won the Xtracon Chess Open in Denmark with a score of 8.5 out of a possible 10 points. In October 2019, he had won the World Youth Championships in the under-18 section with a score of 9 out of a possible 11 points. In December 2019, at the age of 14 years, 3 months, and 24 days, he had become the 2nd-youngest person to have achieved a FIDE Elo rating of 2600.
6. In April 2021, he had won the Polgar Challenge, the 1st of the 4 legs of the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, a rapid online chess event that was jointly organized to promote young talents by the Julius Baer Group and Chess24.com. He had scored 15.5 out of a possible 19 points.
7. This had helped him qualify for the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, a 10-month long series of 10 online chess tournaments featuring the world’s top players who compete for a prize money pool of USD 1.5 million. He had competed in one of those 10 tournaments and had finished in 12th place there, ending up in the joint 20th position overall on the tour in a field of 44 participants.
8. At the Chess World Cup 2021, a 206-player single-elimination chess tournament that was held in Sochi, Russia, he had reached the 4th round (last 32 players) of the tournament. He was the 2nd best Indian player at the tournament only behind Vidit Gujrathi who had reached the quarter-final stage.

Featured Image by Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa / Instagram