India’s grip on world classical chess tightened further last week at Bucharest, Romania, where the victory of Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, 19, compensated for the continuing indifferent form of his compatriot and official world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, 18. The possibility that the teenage pair will meet for the global crown in 2026 is increasing.
It was the second major win of the year for Pragg, as he is widely known, following on from his first prize at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee in January. Again it was achieved after a speed chess tiebreak, in which Pragg defeated France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in their final blitz game, shown live and in full here.
Viewers of the video can see how confidently and crisply Pragg makes his moves, although Vachier-Lagrave could have drawn a move before the end by 37 . . . Qe7! Instead, the Frenchman missed the double threat to his f7 pawn. Pragg has noticeably improved his speed skills in recent years.
The Bucharest event was part of the European leg of the Grand Slam, sponsored by the St Louis billionaire and FT reader Rex Sinquefield, which also includes rapid and blitz events in Poland and Croatia, the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis and a Tour Final at São Paulo, Brazil.
Prize money at Bucharest totalled $350,000.
Meanwhile, world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, whose wife Ella Victoria is expecting their first child, is preparing for Norway Chess at Stavanger starting next Monday, May 26. There, his five opponents in a double-round event will be America’s world No 2 and No 4 Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, world champion and No 5 Gukesh, world No 3 Arjun Erigaisi of India, and China’s world No 9 Wei Yi.
Carlsen has declared that he will no longer participate in any Fide events, following a dispute over whether the Freestyle circuit, which is now his priority, could be called a world championship. This rare direct clash with Gukesh could therefore be important for both of them, but Carlsen has chosen to play down its significance, saying, “I’m not motivated to play.”
Despite that comment, the chess world will watch this encounter with keen interest. Carlsen and Gukesh last played a classical game together in the 2023 World Cup, when the Norwegian knocked out the young Indian 1.5-0.5. In 2024, Carlsen played only 18 classical games, the lowest number since the start of his professional career; and it could well happen that Stavanger will be his only classical tournament of 2025.
Stavanger is also important for Nakamura, who went close in the last two Candidates without winning, and for Caruana, the defeated 2018 world title challenger. They are aged 37 and 32 respectively, and their biological clocks are ticking. Nakamura remains a legend of speed chess, and has just recorded his 40th Bullet Brawl title on Chess.com in one-minute games.
Puzzle 2625
Alexander Donchenko vs Matthias Blübaum, German championship, Munich 2025. Black to move and win.
Click here for solution
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