Viswanathan Anand Wants 'Stuck' D Gukesh To Take 'Inspiration' From R Praggnanandhaa

Last Updated:June 09, 2026, 12:57 IST

Viswanathan Anand praises R Praggnanandhaa’s Norway Chess win, urges struggling world champion D Gukesh to draw inspiration, says Indian chess is now among the world’s top three

Legendary Viswanathan Anand hailed R Praggnanandhaa’s highly competitive style of play and urged the struggling world champion D Gukesh to take a leaf out of the newly crowned Norway Chess champion’s book to script a turnaround.

Praggnanandhaa recently became the first Indian chess player to win the Norway Chess title, while Gukesh finished sixth in the tournament.

“I am delighted that Praggnanandhaa has won Norway Chess in an impressive style. I am very happy with the spectacular turnaround he produced in the last four rounds. He is playing the game with some amazingly impressive concepts and style," Anand was quoted as saying to PTI.

Viswanathan Anand advised D Gukesh, who is scheduled to face Javokhir Sindarov in his title defence later this year, to draw “inspiration" from R Praggnanandhaa.

“At this moment, Praggnanandhaa is playing better than Gukesh, but anything can change. I think there will be form swings repeatedly. Gukesh seems to be stuck a bit. I think he can take inspiration from Pragg.

“He can see that if you persist with hard work, then at some point things will change," he added.

The five-time world champion said Praggnanandhaa is always “ready for a fight" on the board, and that attitude helps him produce interesting concepts during play.

“Actually, it’s the same Pragg as in the last one and a half years. Sometimes he plays hard and comes out with interesting concepts, and he is always ready for a fight. The results might not always work out.

“In fact, after the first six rounds, you can’t see much difference from the last 8 or 9 months in how Praggnanandhaa plays. But then there was this great turnaround, and that was really nice to see because he played very interesting chess," he noted.

Competition Good For India

On the healthy rivalry among Indian GMs Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, Anand said: “We have never had three players at the top, and they are pushing each other’s game to the highest level. And how far they are from what I did, I don’t know.

“I have not given it a thought. Chess is changing dynamically. Careers may not last the same duration because the game itself is changing."

Anand expressed delight at the upward trajectory of Indian chess, with several GMs making their mark at the highest level.

“India is definitely in the top three. We have increased our strength a lot. We have as many as 95 Grandmasters in the country. We have a world champion and we have many players at the top.

“Things are going up for India and now women are joining this movement. Are we replacing Russia? We are certainly one of the top 3, but their dominance has been quite different," he added.

(With inputs from Agencies)

About the Author

Ritayan Basu

Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for over a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket conten...Read More

News sports chess Viswanathan Anand Wants 'Stuck' D Gukesh To Take 'Inspiration' From R Praggnanandhaa

Read More