"Seen him put in a lot of effort, it will be all fruitful": R Praggnanandhaa's mentor Aarthie Ramaswamy

Aug 24, 2023

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 24 : Aarthie Ramaswamy, who is a mentor of Indian chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, on Thursday said that for the 18-year-old India grandmaster "everything" revolves around chess and believes all the efforts that the Indian teenager has put in the last 10 years will be "fruitful" as he will take on Norway's world number one Magnus Carlsen in World Cup final. 
RB Ramesh, who is Praggnanandhaa's coach and also popularly known as the Super Coach, along with his wife women grandmaster Aarthie Ramaswamy have coached the 18-year-old India grandmaster for ten years and painted a picture of a boy who is so dedicated to his craft.
Ramesh coached Praggnanandhaa for ten years, who is now challenging the top chess players in the world. 
"Keep doing your best that's what we always tell our students. It's not about results it's about how much effort you put in. So we have seen him putting in a lot of effort in the last 10 years, and I am sure it will be fruitful. He needs to keep doing what he has been doing," Praggnanandhaa's mentor Aarthie Ramaswamy told ANI. 
"He's been with Ramesh [Praggnanandhaa's coach] since he was 9 years old, almost now 10 years. We have seen the child progress, he is a very dedicated and determined child. Once you tell him something it's done, you dont have to follow up. He has been very very determined about chess and I would say for him chess is everything. His relaxation is chess, his profession is chess so for him everything is chess," Ramaswamy said. 
Ramaswamy said that the 18-year-old comes from a chess-dominant family and his sister also plays chess so they know how to deal with the Indian prodigy's progress. 
"He comes from a family where his sister also plays. So the family knows how to deal with his progress," she added.
Even though Praggnanandhaa has achieved a lot of benchmarks, Ramaswamy believes that there is still scope for improvement as he is just in his growing phase. 
"He became a Grandmaster when he was 11 and now he is 18, so the last seven year has been very eventful for him. Every year he has achieved a benchmark... so he has been improving. I still think there is a lot of scope for improvement. He is just in a growing phase but we are happy that he is here so quickly," she added. 
Praggnanandhaa defeated world number three Hikaru Nakamura of the United States and world number two Fabiano Caruana of the United States on his way to the final.
"This was a very quick rise for him and for us also...... we were expecting another two years or so he would be in the World Championship cycle this is World Cup, and these are two different tournaments. The World Championship cycle is much time tested one. So he will be there very soon. But he is here in the final we are very happy. We wish he would do the best today in the final," she added. 
Coming to the second game of Classical Chess at the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) World Cup final between Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa and Norway's world number one Magnus Carlsen ended in a draw on Wednesday, with the winner of the tournament set to be decided on Thursday. The contest between these two Chess stars has now moved to tie-breakers.