How GM Chitambaram scripted history in Prague

IMAGE: Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram won the Prague Masters, his first major title, finishing ahead of established names like compatriot R Praggnanandhaa, in Prague on Friday. Photograph: Prague International Chess Festival

At 25, Aravindh Chithambaram is a late bloomer when compared to teenage sensations like D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa who are ruling the global chess circuit right now. But the manner in which he maneuvered the odds in his life through 64 squares, he seems a resilient king in the making.

His Prague Masters triumph has made the chess fraternity warm up to the Madurai born Aravindh, who lost his father when he was only three. The mother worked as an LIC agent, and was brave enough to take a punt on his life by shifting base from Madurai to Chennai, which is India’s unofficial chess capital.

The years of sacrifice and hard work is finally paying dividends. The iconic Vellamal School, which is the alma mater of World champion Gukesh, now has another international player of repute to boast about. After all, Aravindh is Gukesh’s senior.

The victory at Prague has earned him a wild card to the prestigious Grand Chess Tour in Poland.

“I have been getting invitations during the course of the tournament and Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz (event) is one of them,” Aravindh informed.

Normally, a top-20 slot in the world rankings guarantees at least a few invitations for top tournaments, but before Prague, Aravindh had confirmed his participation in the Sharjah Masters and the Biel International, events slated in May and July respectively.

IMAGE: Aravindh Chithambaram receives the winner’s trophy. Photograph: Prague International Chess Festival

He is now supported by the Cholamandalam group, but very few remember when Viswanathan Anand lost his World title to Magnus Carlsen in Chennai back in 2013, at the same time, schoolboy Aravindh was garnering attention at the other end of the city in an International Open meet.

It was that very tournament where Aravindh earned his first GM norm, winning the Open event, and has not looked back since.

In 2015, he became a GM and has been steadily improving although the big results which had become synonymous with Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi eluded him. Many might have felt that time is running out as he is certainly a few years older than the elite troika.

In 2019, Arvindh won the Indian Open in classical, rapid and blitz and became the first Indian to achieve this rare feat. Last November, he finally won the Chennai Grandmasters tournament and breached the 2700 ELO rating barrier.

Now his triumph at the Prague Masters confirms his status as the fourth pillar to Gukesh, Arjun and Praggnanandhaa.

In Prague, Aravindh scored six points in all, coming through three victories and six draws and finished a full point ahead of Praggnanandhaa, GM Anish Giri of Holland and Wei Yi of China.

The victory speaks volume against a star-studded field and could be the beginning for Aravindh to break into the top ten or even beyond.

As on Friday afternoon after he won the Masters, Aravindh stood at number 14 in live world rankings and fourth in India.