NEW DELHI: A 12 months in the past, American Grandmaster Levon Aronian beat Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa of their third-place match on the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) Finals in São Paulo, Brazil. Taking part in fast-paced chess, he progressively got here to grasp one factor. Blitz and fast, the Armenian nice had apprehended, had been the younger Indian’s gentle spots.Final Thursday in St Louis, that very same gentle spot helped Praggnanandhaa script historical past.He beat Fabiano Caruana 15-13 within the GCT Finals, changing into the primary Indian and solely the seventh participant within the occasion’s 11-year historical past to carry the title, pocketing $200,000 within the course of.He bought there by profitable each fast video games within the last earlier than holding a four-game blitz part to a 4-4 draw, the precise terrain Aronian as soon as flagged as his weak point.“After final 12 months’s GCT finals, the place I beat him, I believed that blitz and fast are his weak factors, and that ought to be exploited. And to be trustworthy, I am shocked. I feel he made good progress in these features,” Aronian, who stays one of the crucial revered voices within the chess world, advised TimesofIndia.com forward of the brand new World Chess League (GCL) season in Bengaluru, the place he’ll signify the Ganges Grandmasters this September.
GM Levon Aronian will return to GCL after enjoying and profitable the inaugural version of the event in 2023.
It is a uncommon factor for one elite participant to publicly credit score one other for closing a spot that was, not way back, exploited to beat them. “You must praise and congratulate any individual who’s working arduous to repair their weaknesses,” the 43-year-old Grandmaster stated. “So I am comfortable for him as a result of he is a fighter and he is a really likeable individual.”Aronian is not the one voice from the game’s previous guard taking discover.Earlier, Viswanathan Anand, who returns to the board with Alaskan Knights for this 12 months’s GCL, went additional nonetheless in a separate dialog with this web site, calling Praggnanandhaa the very best participant proper now.“In Norway Chess, he was not doing properly. In some unspecified time in the future, there have been 4 rounds left, and he was within the backside. After which he gained 4 video games in a row,” Anand defined.“He did one thing comparable right here, although his efficiency was significantly better in Grand Chess Tour and in addition within the Speedy. He gained the Speedy, did properly sufficient within the Blitz to win the event. Then he was kind of competing for first place right here.“He has this capability, and it is changing into increasingly more noticeable that he is in a position to win late video games and alter every thing. And that is a really, very uncommon ability and helpful ability to have.”Learn additionally: Amid ‘very long meetings’ and running chess world, has Viswanathan Anand lost ‘hunger’ to win? | Exclusive“I feel in the mean time, I might say he is the primary participant on the planet,” Anand opined, pointing to the identical capability for turnarounds that Aronian’s feedback now echo from the shedding finish of 1.“Properly, Magnus (Carlsen) would not compete in the identical occasions, however nonetheless, you understand, if you happen to take classical included, and I do know Pragg, within the tournaments which occurred in August and all, he carried out extremely properly. For those who return to Norway Chess after which see the event from there, I feel it is simply unbelievable.”
