Hailing R Praggnanandhaa's remarkable turnaround en route to winning the Norway Chess title, chess legend Viswanathan Anand on Monday said struggling world champion D Gukesh can take inspiration from his compatriot's perseverance and hard work to rediscover form ahead of his title defence later this year.
Praggnanandhaa recently became the first Indian chess player to annex the Norway title, but Gukesh finished sixth in the tournament.
"I am delighted that Praggnanandhaa has won Norway Chess in an impressive style. I am very happy at the spectacular turnaround (he made) in the last four rounds. He is playing the game with some amazingly impressive concepts and style," Anand, told PTI.
Anand advised Gukesh, who is scheduled to face Javokhir Sindarov in his title defence later this year, to take "inspiration" from Praggnanandhaa.
"At this moment, Praggnanandhaa is playing better than Gukesh but anything can change. I think there will be form swings repeatedly. Gukesh seems to be stuck a bit. I think he can take inspiration from Pragg. He can see that if you persist with hard work then at some point things will change," he added.
The five-time world champion said Praggnanandhaa is always "ready for a fight" on the board, and the attitude helps him produce some interesting concepts while playing.
"Actually, it's the same Pragg in the last one and half years. Sometimes he plays hard and comes out with interesting concepts, and he is always ready for a fight. The results might not always work out. In fact, after the first six rounds, you can't see much difference from the last 8 or 9 months (as in how Praggnanandhaa plays). But then there was this great turnaround and that was really nice to see because he played very interesting chess," he noted.
On the healthy challenge between three Indian GMs Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, Anand said: "We have never had three players at the top and they are pushing each other's game to the highest level. And how far they are from what I did, I don't know. I have not given it a thought. Chess is changing dynamically. Careers may not last the same duration because the game itself is changing."
Anand was delighted to see the upward curve of Indian chess with several GMs making their mark at the highest level.
"India is definitely in the top three. We have increased our strength a lot. We have as many as 95 Grandmasters in the country. We have a world champion and we have many players at the top. Things are going up for India and now women are joining this movement. Are we replacing Russia? We are certainly one of the top 3, but their dominance has been quite different," he added.
(With inputs from PTI)
