Twelve-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa scored a sensational result in the recent Isle of Man Masters. At the age of ten years and ten months, he achieved the extraordinary distinction of becoming the youngest official international master in the history of chess. The youngest ever grandmaster is last year’s world championship challenger Sergei Karjakin, who was elevated to the chess peerage when he was 12 years and seven months old. Praggnanandhaa now has five months in which to break that record.
In the Isle of Man Praggnanandhaa scored a respectable 50 per cent (4½/9) and notched his first win against a grandmaster rated 2700+ — the former British champion David Howell. Here is Praggnanandhaa’s amazing victory.
Praggnanandhaa-Howell: chess.com Masters, Isle of Man 2017; Caro-Kann Defence
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 The most celebrated game with this line was Capablanca’s great victory with Black against Nimzowitsch at New York 1927. Interestingly, many commentators are now comparing Praggnanandhaa’s style with that of Capablanca.
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