At only 20 years old, R Praggnanandhaa has already established himself as one of the leading figures in chess. After his historic victory in Osla, Praggnanandhaa climbed five spots higher to 11th position in the live chess rankings. He defeated Vincent Keymer in the final round to clinch his first-ever Norway Chess title and also became the first-ever Indian to do so. Winning at Norway Chess has even eluded Indian GMs like Viswanathan Anand and defending world champion D Gukesh since its inception in 2013.This year in Norway Chess, it was probably R Praggnanandhaa biggest-ever performance as he beat Carlsen in both their classical games. (HT_PRINT)For Praggnanandhaa, this title is also about cementing his position as one of the best in the world. He failed to qualify for the Candidates this year, but has proven his mettle at Norway Chess, especially against someone like Magnus Carlsen.Also Read: History-maker R Praggnanandhaa becomes first Indian to win Norway Chess titleBorn in Chennai, he and his older sister, Vaishali Rameshbabu are the first brother and sister to bag GM titles. They are also the first brother and sister pair to qualify for the Candidates.World Youth Chess C'ship title in 2013Praggnanandhaa first caught everyone's attention in 2013, when he won the World Youth Chess C'ship Under-8 title, which saw him get the FIDE Master title. In 2015, he won the under-10 title.Then, in 2016, he became the youngest international master in history at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days.GM normsHe got his first GM norm at the World Junior Chess C'ship in 2017. He registered his second norm in 2018 at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM norm tournament.In the same year, he got his third and final norm at the Gredine Open by beating Luca Moroni in the eighth round. He became the second-youngest person to ever earn the rank of GM at 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days. He is the seventh-youngest person ever to get the GM title.Magnus CarlsenAt the 2023 World Cup, he became the youngest-ever player to reach the final, beating Fabiano Caruana in tie-breaks in the semifinal. He also became the second Indian, after Viswanathan Anand,, to reach the finals of Chess World Cup history. He lost to Magnus Carlsen in the final, losing in the rapid tie-breaks.In 2025, he won prestigious tournaments like the Tata Steel Chess Masters and the Superbet Chess Classic Romania. He also qualified for the 2026 Candidates.His biggest statement yet arrived at the 2026 Norway Chess. He had a difficult start to his campaign and at one stage even suffered back-to-back losses. But he responded in style, getting four consecutive classical game wins in the closing stages. He also beat world No. 1 Carlsen in both classical games.Speaking after his win, he said, “Somehow things went all my way. I also feel I started playing with more control, which is always a good thing.”“It’s just that I decided I will play a bit faster than I was doing. I was having time advantage in every game and I was also able to play decent quality moves, so I think that certainly helped,” he added.