Praggnanandhaa R when he last played at the tournament when he was just 11
Britain’s most prestigious chess tournament, the London Chess Classic, has a superstar in its midst after Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa R made a last-minute entry.
Praggnandhaa, the world number-seven and widely-tipped as a future world champion, is in a race to rack up the points he needs on the FIDE Circuit leaderboard to secure the final qualification spot available for next year’s Candidates tournament in Cyprus.
The Candidates is the last hurdle before the World Championship match. Win that, and you have a tilt at the title. But first, you have to qualify.
Praggnandhaa, who missed out on direct entry via the World Cup in Goa, was too late to enter the Classic’s £50,000 eight-player elite tournament starting next week at Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium.
Instead, he will compete in the Open section where he’ll be the heavy favourite up against lower-ranked grandmasters, international masters and amateurs. It will be fascinating to watch.
The London Chess Classic is one of just a handful of tournaments left in the calendar eligible for FIDE Circuit points before qualification stops at the end of the year.
This is not the first time the 20-year-old from Chennai has competed in the Classic’s Open section.
Praggnandhaa played as an 11-year-old international master in 2016 and finished in 37th place with a score of 5.5/9. At the time, he was chasing the record to be the world’s youngest grandmaster.
The 2025 edition of the Classic, the 15th, features a stacked line-up of Super Grandmasters in the Elite Group battling for a total £50,000 prize fund between November 26 and December 5.
The two top names besides Praggnandhaa are Grandmasters Alireza Firouzja and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
In 2024, Grandmaster Gawain Jones was crowned champion for the first time and he returns this year to defend his title.
Adams, the legendary nine-time British champion, is also back along with England’s number-two Nikita Vitiugov and Cambridge-based former prodigy Luke McShane. The quartet complete the strong home challenge.
From overseas, the world’s youngest ever grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra will fly over from the USA to compete along with another American star Sam Shankland, rated 2654 FIDE.
Mishra has just competed at the World Cup in Goa, India, along with Greek Grandmaster Nikolas Theodorou, who also joins the line-up. Shankland’s campaign in India continues. The London Chess Classic also welcomes Ukrainian Grandmaster Pavel Eljanov, a former World Cup semi-finalist and world number six.
But it is the presence of Firouzja, the 2762-rated and currently world number six, and Abdusattorov, a supreme talent from Uzbekistan who is a former World Rapid champion, which elevates the line-up.
Both are world class players and in the race to make it to the Candidates, every game will be a must-win for them.
