BENGALURU: At the fag end of 2024, R Praggnanandhaa, India's great chess hope, leader of the next generation and 'one of Anand's babies', was staring into the middle distance. The light in his eyes had disappeared. The teenager was worried. He was worried about his game and where it was headed. He was worried about why he had seemingly hit a wall. Above all, he was worried because he desperately wanted to be world champion. But, in a cruel twist of fate, he had seen compatriot and Olympiad colleague D Gukesh holding the one trophy he so badly craved.
He let it get to him. That's when there was a conversation with his coach-cum-mentor, RB Ramesh.
“We are all humans, and we are emotional people,” Ramesh had said about that particular conversation during the Chennai Grand Masters in August 2025. “So, it will have an impact when one is doing (well), especially when your competitors are doing better. It can affect you. At the same time, it can inspire you, motivate you. You don't want to be left behind.”
He had his eureka moment at the end of that conversation with Ramesh. There was a time when it used to affect him 'negatively'. Not anymore. "At some point earlier on," he had said in an interview during the Global Chess League in Mumbai in December 2025. "Now I think I'm mature enough that I can... I see it as an inspiration more than anything else."
If his 2024 was a middling year — including his first Candidates where he finished fifth — his 2025, at least the first part, saw a new side to him. A confident, more ambitious Pragg. That change, Pragg said during the GCL, went back to his talk with Ramesh. "Seeing Gukesh become the world champion and Arjun's (Erigaisi) deeds, inspired me... my talk with (Ramesh) sir was about small improvements. Trying to be more ambitious, more confident when I'm playing, trying to aim for tournament victories more than anything else."
Beginning Saturday, the 20-year-old has the chance to begin what he had started in 2024. Win the Candidates and give himself a shot at taking down Gukesh and his world championship later this year in the title match. On the upcoming Candidates itself, he had said: "I'm more experienced and I think I'm stronger than two years ago. I have also won a few top events, I believe I can do it again."
It's true. An outstanding 2025 enabled him to top the FIDE Circuit board; it's how he qualified for the Candidates. Now, the hard bit. And to get the obvious out of the way. There aren't many who expect the Indian ace to win it (saying that, not many expected Gukesh to win this event in 2024). Magnus Carlsen expects it to be won by one of the two wily Americans, Hikaru Nakamura or Fabiano Caruana. Anish Giri is a solid performer while Javokhir Sindarov has emerged as a late bolter after winning the World Cup. Matthias Bluebaum, Wei Yi and Andrey Esipenko complete the eight man field.
It's a loaded field but one which has an obvious pecking order. However, Pragg won't be fazed even though his ratings have fallen over the last six months (he has lost 44 rating points in this period). But that could be part of the prep itself as it's common for players to not reveal their hand so close to a big event like the Candidates.
"He has had multiple camps and the preparation has been good," Ramesh told this daily from Italy where he's tutoring some kids. "We are confident." That's the other thing about the Indian in the lead up to this meet.
He has taken a break to remain fresh and focussed. Young Indians like Pragg have been so in demand they have flown from airport to hotel to chess halls for the last two years; it's why for most of them a holiday is coming back home and sleeping for a few days.
Pragg completely disappeared from the circuit after featuring at Wijk aan Zee. He's not played a single competitive game for over 50 days. The last time he took this long a break was over three years ago.
All of this was planned as soon as he qualified for the elite tournament. In Cyprus, he will be assisted by GM Vaibhav Suri with Ramesh providing remote support if there's an SOS call.
Even before the confetti was swept off the ballroom in the Singapore hotel post Gukesh's ascension, the chess world made a prediction.
Sometime soon, there would be an all-Indian final.
Pragg will be hoping to deliver on that prophecy at the first time of asking.