OSLO: Vaibhav Suri and ward R Praggnanandhaa decided to pay a lot of attention to 'small details'. Those small details helped the Indian claim his biggest title. Even as the Indian was being whisked around from one studio to another, Suri stood in the background, looking on like a proud uncle.
"I don't think there's anything particularly different... I would assume it's just a case of being in a good headspace," he told select media when asked what they have done differently. "We have been paying very close attention to small details in terms of his play, headspace, decision-making. Trying to analyse small things that we can pay attention to, observing targets opponents closely, so trying to target them accordingly. The results are really promising but still a lot of learning, even from this experience."
When asked to elaborate, Suri, who joined hands with the 20-year-old after his last Norway Chess appearance in 2024, said: "when I say small details, it's how he's handling time, closely watching opponents to see what sort of positions they may get into trouble in, where they may get uncomfortable and so on. This is the role I have to do, because he's playing. I'm able to follow the games slightly more closely. That's what we are doing. Because at this level, the value of these small details are immense and they do play a big role in how you shape the entire strategy for games. "
Considering the World No 12 admitted to burn out and just wanting to enjoy chess again, there was renewed emphasis on 'unwinding a little bit'. "At this level, these players are super motivated," Suri said. "They don't need lectures on how to stay motivated. They are extremely ambitious, they know what they want. Mainly it is just to relax a bit. Talking about random things and getting a little time away from the game." In Oslo, the pair even spoke about 'The Scream', one of the most iconic works of art ever. It was created by Norway's Edvard Munch and there's a Munch museum right by the playing venue. When they were walking past it one day, Suri told him about it. "Pragg is a very curious person, he's very interested in these things. This is a way to detach from the game."
But, inevitably, a lot of their conversations involved chess. And after his second loss to Wesley So in the sixth round, the duo didn't even talk about winning the tournament. "I don't think either of us were thinking about that," Suri said. "Particularly after the second loss." But the 29-year-old GM was confident that this wouldn't be a blowout tournament just based on the kind of positions his ward was getting into. "I don't think based on how his games were played, he should have been minus two. I think at that point, you just decide that I don't want to be in that position and try to do something about it."
Pragg did something about it. He won four in a row and won the title.
