Chennai: After enduring a lean patch last year, Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa has stormed back to form with three major titles this year — a run that has propelled him to India No. 1 and World No. 4 in the live rankings. It also firmly placed him in contention for a 2026 FIDE Candidates berth. The 19-year-old kicked off the season with a memorable win at Wijk aan Zee, followed it up with a joint-first finish at the Superbet Chess Classic in Romania, and then clinched the UzChess Cup in Tashkent, which put him in pole position on the FIDE Circuit leaderboard with 86.28 points. While the World Cup and Grand Swiss later this year will be decisive, for now, the Chennai youngster is well and truly in the driver’s seat. “This year has been good for me so far and I hope it continues. We made some changes in my game and it’s showing results. Last year, things didn’t go my way. Ramesh sir and I worked and tried to find things to change… Those were the difficult things. Now there are a lot of tournaments coming up… Candidates, Grand Swiss, GCT… And I’m trying to focus on all of them and take one at a time,” Pragg said on the sidelines of the ‘Chola Chess’ academy launch here on Wednesday. When asked if he feels on track for the Candidates seat, Pragg said: “I’m giving my best and we will see… There are a lot more important tournaments lined up. In the FIDE Circuit, anyone can come up and catch me. For me personally, I will take each tournament separately and I want to give my best for every tournament. Let’s see how it goes.”Anand hopeful that Pragg will qualify for Candidates Pragg had qualified for the Candidates last year but finished fifth in the tournament. Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand believes the teenager has got ‘extra motivation’ to perform better. “He’s having a sensational year. I think for him, missing out (on winning) the Candidates last year is a reaction this year. He’s got that extra motivation. The most important thing is not to be leading the Circuit now… it’s to be leading when it ends. Hopefully, it’ll happen,” said Anand.
