Chess Candidates: R Praggnanandhaa focusing on opening preparations, physical fitness

Before the Candidates chess competition, Praggnanandhaa’s coach, RB Ramesh, said to The Indian Express, “I’m proud to see that Pragg has come this far, but I don’t think this is his best.” I think the greatest is still to come.”

Before a pawn has moved across the 64-square battlefield, India’s 18-year-old R Praggnanandhaa and 22-year-old R Vaishali will carve a piece of history at the upcoming Candidates Chess Tournament. They will become the first brother and sister team to compete in the prestigious competition, which has been running since 1950.

There is no greater benefit in sports than having a sister who competes at the same high level. That equation, however, does not apply to chess, which is why the sister and brother have been training independently in preparation for what will be the most difficult test of their nascent careers to yet.

“They will both participate in significant competitions. Thus, they have made most of their preparations apart. It makes perfect sense. They are participating in distinct events with disparate anticipations. To put it simply, Pragg has a rating of around 2750, whereas Vaishali’s is close to 2500. There is a discrepancy of over 250 points. They will be playing against extremely similar opponents. The openings they are playing cannot be the same. It will be similar to revealing all of your cards to your opponents right away. To anticipate what Pragg will do, one need just study Vaishali’s openings in order to prepare for him. We had been training apart because of this. Despite being siblings, they are two distinct people. Their needs are distinct.

Vaishali began training with grandmaster Sandipan Chanda, who has backed up Viswanathan Anand in several World Championship bouts, a few months ago at Anand’s suggestion.

In the upcoming days, the Candidates’ actions will be dominated by the idea of not flashing your cards. Gukesh’s father, Dr. Rajinikanth, who is also one of India’s Candidates contenders, declined to specify how many trainers and seconds the 17-year-old is working with to get ready for the Candidates in a recent interview with The Indian Express. That may not have been a deliberate tactic, but it supports the notion of preparing for a high-stakes competition such as the Candidates: every piece of information you know about your preparation can be used against you.