Chess Ace Praggnanandhaa's Rise to Top Junior Sparks Witty Reaction From Anish Giri

Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri, known for his insightful commentary, sparked a buzz in the chess community with a playful reaction to R Praggnanandhaa achieving the World No. 1 junior ranking.

Giri, currently ranked world no. 10 with a live rating of 2748.0, quipped, "Chess juniors nowadays have to be at least U16, keeping track of U20 players is totally pointless." This remark highlights the increasingly early emergence of elite talents who are already challenging established players in the senior world rankings.

This comment followed Praggnanandhaa's impressive victory at the UzChess Cup Masters 2025 in Uzbekistan. This win boosted his live rating to 2778.3, making him the World No. 4 overall and surpassing all others to become India’s highest-rated chess player. He overtook D Gukesh (2776.6) and Arjun Erigaisi (2775.7) in the Indian rankings.

Praggnanandhaa's path to victory was filled with drama. He began the final day trailing Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov but secured a critical win against Abdusattorov in the last classical round, forcing a three-way tie.

In the blitz tiebreaks, Praggnanandhaa demonstrated remarkable composure, ultimately winning the tournament in the second set of rapid games, marking his third major classical title this year.

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand praised Praggnanandhaa's resilience, stating, "This win seemed the least likely with just two rounds to go… An impressive demonstration of character."

With this victory, Praggnanandhaa adds the UzChess Cup to his impressive 2025 achievements, including wins at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament and the Superbet Classic in Romania. He also recently secured second place at the Stepan Avagyan Memorial.

While Giri's comment might seem to downplay the significance of junior rankings, Praggnanandhaa's performance unequivocally demonstrates that the future of world chess is already making waves, particularly in India.