Indian chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who received a silver medal in FIDE World Cup 2023 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Wednesday acquired a rousing welcome on his arrival on the Chennai Airport.

Outside the Airport, college students have been ween waiving the tricolour and a few of them have been holding banners of ‘World Cup Runner Up’ to welcome the Indian prodigy. India’s Chess prodigy, R Praggnanandhaa, who made the complete nation proud with his exploits, talked about that he ‘felt really great.’

“It feels really great. I think it is good for Chess,” the Indian chess grandmaster advised the reporters.

After returning to Chennai, Praggnanandhaa mentioned, “I am very happy to see so many people coming here and it is good for Chess.”

All India Chess Federation representatives and State Government representatives have been on the airport to welcome India’s rising star return to the nation. Praggnanandhaa’s sister Vaishali was elated to see the form of welcome her brother had recieved on the airport.

“I had witnessed something like this 10 years back, when Viswanathan (Anand) sir had won World Championship match. He had a fantastic welcome. We went to the airport actually to welcome him. It’s amazing to see that Pragg is getting the same love from all the people” she mentioned.

In the FIDE World Cup last match, Praggnanandhaa put up a stellar efficiency in opposition to World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. However, Carlsen defeated Praggnanandhaa to clinch the title of the International Chess Federation World Cup and the Indian chess grandmaster needed to accept the place of runner-up of the 2023 FIDE World Cup. The 18-year-old Indian will draw hope from the truth that he has certified for the FIDE Candidates event.

The Norwegian chess grandmaster received the primary recreation of the Rapid Chess tie-breaker with black items and managed to carry on for a draw in the second recreation with white items. Praggnanandhaa fought laborious however fell quick with Carlsen summoning all his large match expertise when it mattered essentially the most. Earlier Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen drew two video games of Classical Chess.

The 2024 Candidates Tournament will likely be an eight-player chess event scheduled to be held from April 2 to April 25, 2024 in Toronto, Canada. The winner of the event will turn out to be the challenger for the 2024 World Chess Championship match.

Praggnanandhaa had a superb event the place he defeated World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura in a tie-breaker whereas reaching the ultimate defeating World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana.

(with inputs from ANI)