Indian chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has officially become the highest-ranked Indian chess player after clinching victory at the UzChess Cup Masters in Croatia. However, the 19-year-old prodigy remains grounded, stating he prefers to focus on each tournament rather than obsess over rating points.
Praggnanandhaa defeated local favourite Nodirbek Abdusattorov with the Black pieces on the final day, pushing his live rating to 2778.3. This places him ahead of reigning world champion D Gukesh (2776.6) and Arjun Erigaisi (2775.7). In the global rankings, he now occupies 4th place, trailing only behind Magnus Carlsen (2839.2), Hikaru Nakamura (2807.0), and Fabiano Caruana (2784.2).
Speaking to media about the milestone, Praggnanandhaa remarked:
“I became India’s number one because of one point. So I don’t think it really matters. These one or two points can go either way in one game. I don’t think I’ll pay attention to that so much. For me, more than that, the tournament that I just won was much more special. I mean, like for me, I take a tournament at a time. I don’t pay too much attention to the like these one or two rating points that change.”
The young grandmaster also attracted praise from chess icons Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura after being picked by Team Liquid for the upcoming Esports World Cup 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Reacting to their encouraging words, he said:
“It feels good, but I don’t think it will impact me in any way. I’ll try to do what I’m doing, but yeah, it’s good to see such comments. It inspires me to do better and gives me confidence.”
Praggnanandhaa expressed gratitude for the backing he has received from Adani Sportsline, which has helped sustain his career over the past year.
“I’ve been supported by Adani group from last one year. As chess players, we need to travel a lot and also train a lot, and these things can be pretty expensive because I trained for the Candidates last year. We needed to have a team and then have in-person camps. That’s where Adani Group’s support was invaluable. They were supporting me even when I was not playing well. They were there supporting me through my loss. Such support makes you push yourself harder. I’m genuinely grateful to Adani Group for their support. It’s great to see such corporations coming into the game. It’s overall a good thing for the game,” he concluded.