Pranesh M
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
As in 2023
January 7, 2023: The Times of India
Pranesh M, 16, has become India’s latest chess grandmaster 79th winning the Rilton Cup title in Stockholm, Sweden, in a dominating fashion.
It was not a run-of-the-mill norm performance which comes with an agreed draw in the last round. Pranesh (Elo 2475), 16, beat GM Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal of Norway in the ninth and last round with black pieces on Thursday.
The Indian played all decisive games, winning eight of them to touch Elo 2500 in live rating. To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points. Thursday’s win gave Pranesh his third GM norm.
The time control was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes more for the rest of the game with 30 seconds increment from the first move. It was a Queen’s Gambit Declined game in which Pranesh eked out a win after 67 moves. In the middle game, there were 8-9 maneuverings of the Black king including a possibility of three-fold repetition. But soon, the Indian broke free and won on the strength of pawn structure and heckling the White king. Pranesh was the 22nd seed in a field of 130-plus players that had an average rating ofElo 2334. His rating performance was a creditable 2775 when only 2600 i s enough for a GM norm. The recent National championship in Delhi had such a weak field (average rating 1955) that champion Karthik Venkataraman could not give even a GM-norm level performance.
Pranesh is coached by GM RB Ramesh at Chess Gurukul. Ramesh said, “ Pranesh is a practical player. Hardworking and raw talent. . . his openings are not that good, but his middle game and endgame skills are quite good. ”
Pranesh is now the early leader of the FIDE Cir cuit with 6. 8 circuit points that he gets for the victory. Rilton Cup was the year’s first tournament of the circuit. The one who accumulates the most points by the end of the year qualifies for the 2024 FIDE Candidates.
Details
Bhuvan Gupta & Kamini Mathai, January 16, 2023: The Times of India
From: Bhuvan Gupta & Kamini Mathai, January 16, 2023: The Times of India
The opening move in the career of India’s newest grandmaster (GM) M Pranesh was made by a chess novice — his mother Manjula. Tired of running behind her energetic six-year-old, she wanted to get him to play indoors. And so she taught him chess, what she knew of the game having watched children in her neighbourhood play when she was growing up.
“Most of it was wrong,” she says, sheepishly. “I taught him that the kuthirai (knight) moves straight. I had no idea it moves like an L. In fact, I taught him that all the pieces move the same way,” says Manjula, an anganwadi worker in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu.
Pranesh played his mom’s version of the game for a week before his father noticed the boy’s growing interest in the game and enrolled him in a local coaching class. “He came back from class that day and taught me the actual rules. The poor boy had to unlearn almost everything, but he caught up quickly,” says his mother.
Pranesh won a local tournament within 15 days of starting classes with his first coach S Athulan in Karaikudi, and went to New Delhi a month later to participate in the Asian Schools Championships, where he stood fifth.
That was 2012, and the pace of his learning hasn’t slackened since. As victories in state-level tournaments followed, the focus shifted from school to chess. “I was always good at studies, so my parents were confident that I could manage them, so they let me spend more time on chess,” says Pranesh.
A series of prodigious triumphs and 10 years later, the 16-year-old from Karaikudi has earned the grandmaster title — the highest grade in chess — becoming the 79th Indian to do so.
A new mentor
The journey hasn’t been easy. While Manjula’s work at the anganwadi centre is gruelling, her husband R Munirethinam is an accountant in a local textile shop. So the boy found funds to travel for international tournaments hard to arrange. The teenager, however, never slowed down.
Pranesh says the second big move of his career was made when he was 10. “I had gone to play the Under-11 nationals in Raipur, where GM-turned-coach Ramesh RB and his spouse, Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Aarthie Ramesh, noticed my game and got talking with my father. It was then decided that I will attend Ramesh sir’s camps in Chennai,” says Pranesh.
Ramesh started coaching the youngster, and continues to do so. “Pranesh is a practical player. He doesn’t believe in just following the traditional approach; he devises creative solutions for game situations. He has conviction in his methods,” says the coach.
Ramesh feels that Pranesh is “not complicated as a human being”, which helps his cause. “He just wants to become a good chess player and does not carry baggage,” the coach points out. “Most kids who try their hand at the game don’t feel like putting in the hard work if they don’t do well straight away. They don’t remain curious anymore. But Pranesh is willing to put in the hard yards to become better. He knows he can learn anything in chess, however difficult it may be.”
The tenacity is evidenced by the fact that the 16-year-old did not even have a laptop or a computer — nowadays considered a prerequisite for training — till he became an International Master (IM) in 2020.
He would draw out the moves and learn, or play on the chess board. To date, he travels from Karaikudi to Chennai to attend Ramesh’s monthly coaching camp and stays with his uncle who lives in Chromepet, a Chennai suburb.
Financial backing
Soon, the youngster found support from well-wishers and chess enthusiasts, who contributed financially to fund his trips for foreign tournaments. Ramesh often reached out to his well-off friends, businesspeople and former chess players for help, and many of them obliged to make the trips possible.
On the back of his consistent performances, Pranesh eventually found the backing of a sponsor last year. He is also now the proud owner of a laptop presented to him by GroupE4, grandmaster Viswanathan Anand’s foundation that rewards talented young chess achievers across India.
Pranesh with his mother Manjula. She taught him what she knew of the game, having watched children in her neighbourhood play when she was growing up
Becoming GM was Pranesh’s long-standing goal, and if not for the Covid-induced lockdowns, he says, he could have achieved it two years ago, when he was 14. But he waited patiently for his opportunities, and crossed the 2,500 Elo rating threshold (the final requirement for securing the GM title) with a dominating performance at the Rilton Cup in Sweden in January.
“It is the biggest moment of my life so far. I came into this tournament seeded 22nd, and to finish on top in such a strong field feels amazing,” says the teenager.
Now that he has attained his childhood dream, says Ramesh, it is imperative that he does not lose sight of the bigger picture. “He should not relax now. The title should motivate him to contest in more tournaments and work harder,” says the former India coach.
Sure enough, the youngster has already set sight on new targets. “My next goal is to reach 2,600 Elo points, and after that I want to surpass 2,700 Elo points. Once I get there, I will plan for the next target with my coach,” says Pranesh.
