Praggnanandhaa: Would’ve loved to have some school or college friends back home

At some point over the last few months, R Praggnanandhaa sat down to take stock of the year that had been. 2025 had been a long year. But also a good year, one with success on the board. Chasing a spot in the Candidates tournament via the FIDE Circuit route meant he had to play relentlessly. While taking stock, Pragg noticed that there was a phase when he travelled to seven countries in a span of three months.

That’s something he’s looking to avoid this year.

“I’m trying to keep it a bit more light this year,” Praggnanandhaa tells Indian media in Oslo in an interaction on the second rest day of the Norway Chess tournament. Then, a smile appears on his face when he remembers the commitments he’s already made for 2026. “I’m still probably gonna play almost all the tournaments, but I will probably skip like the Esports World Cup. At some point, you just have to prioritise.”

This need for prioritising comes from the realisation that relentless chess left him mentally burnt out last year.

“I’ll try to play less and have breaks in between. Last year was — even though the results went my way — it was a bit too much. So much of chess,” says the 20-year-old in a moment of candor. “At some point, you’re just burnt out. You don’t have the energy. Even if you have physical energy, you just don’t have the mental energy to do the same thing pretty much in every tournament. Having the same routine gets tiring at some point. It just becomes automatic that you just don’t enjoy it anymore.”

He says he has some hobbies away from the chess board which he pursues. But for now his life revolves around chess.

“Sometimes I do feel like I focus too much on chess. Certainly, I think having a different hobby, could help chess as well. There are some things that I want to try in the future,” he admits.

What things?

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“Sometimes you just read something and you’re excited. I want to try this thing,” he says without specifying.

All the relentless travel that the top Indian chess prodigies do comes with a rider. Their life in some of these picturesque countries revolves around the playing hall and the hotel rooms. The only time they really see any of the sights of those countries is when they head for a daily walk that’s baked into their routines now.

Praggnanandhaa contemplates his next move against Magnus Carlsen in Round 8 of Norway Chess. (Michal Walusza / Norway Chess)

“You are not going to these countries to just have a look at the place. You are going there to fight in every tournament, which are usually super strong. So it is mentally tiring. But I know it is me that signed up for all these tournaments.”

Ask Praggnanandhaa what he enjoys about the sport now that he’s accomplished so much and he speaks of how he still enjoys playing the game.

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“Whenever I sit at the board, I just enjoy it,” he says before adding: “It just depends on tournament to tournament. Like at Norway Chess, the format is so exciting that I’m just happy to play. Also, this field is super strong. I mean, there are tournaments where the goal is simple, just to try and try to win the tournament. But in some tournaments, you are just there to enjoy.”

Last year, Pragg and Gukesh had spoken about how going back home to Chennai had started to feel like a vacation for them because they would spend most of their life jetsetting around the world. There is a sense that India’s young prodigies sacrificed a part of normal childhoods to do this.

Ask him whether he spends any time in Chennai with Gukesh and he quips with a cheeky smile: “I think we look at each other too much in tournaments. We don’t want to look at each other’s face at all. Usually like if I’m going out, it’s usually my sister who is there, my family is there, they’re the ones.”

But doesn’t he look at too much of his sister at home and in tournaments as well?

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“As a brother and sister, you have to, there’s no escape,” he chuckles.

Pragg admits that he does have a circle of friends from chess back home. But when the topic comes about having regrets about not living a normal childhood, he says: “If I was doing that, I probably would not be here today. You have to give up certain things for certain things. I don’t really regret it, but of course, I would have loved to have some school friends or college friends back home. But when I am going for something much more bigger, I am happy with how things are right now.”

(The writer is in Oslo at the invitation of Norway Chess)