With Carlsen unlikely to compete, a Chennai youngster might compete for a Challenger spot against world champion Ding Liren.
It had to be R Praggnanandhaa in certain ways. As a 16-year-old, the Chennai-born boy stunned the world by becoming the youngest chess player to defeat five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. In some ways, this sparked a wave of chess mania in India, with even Sachin Tendulkar tweeting his congratulations.
After defeating compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in a frenetic sudden-death blitz battle after eight previous games failed to yield a winner in Baku on Thursday, he became the first Indian since Viswanathan Anand in 2002 to reach the FIDE World Cup semifinals.
Ratnavali