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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Praggnandhaa, who missed out on direct entry via the World Cup in Goa, was too late to enter the Classic’s \u00a350,000 eight-player elite tournament starting next week at Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not the first time the 20-year-old from Chennai has competed in the Classic’s Open section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2025 edition of the Classic, the 15th, features a stacked line-up of Super Grandmasters in the Elite Group battling for a total \u00a350,000 prize fund between November 26 and December 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two top names besides Praggnandhaa are Grandmasters Alireza Firouzja and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2024, Grandmaster Gawain Jones was crowned champion for the first time and he returns this year to defend his title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both are world class players and in the race to make it to the Candidates, every game will be a must-win for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Britain’s most prestigious chess tournament, the London Chess Classic, has a superstar in its midst after Indian prodigy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-6334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-chess"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t