Why chess Grandmaster-siblings Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali will limit the number of tournaments they play in before the Candidates tournament | Chess News

Multiple training camps with focus on each and every opponent. Two separate teams with seconds already identified to share all available information about the opponents. Limiting the number of tournaments they will feature in. All this is part of a meticulously planned programme for chess Grandmasters, the brother-ser duo of R Praggnanandhaa and R Vaishali to train for the Candidates event next year.
The Chess Gurukul in Chennai’s T-Nagar has already become a preparation centre for the siblings. Even when they get back home to Paadi, a quiet neighbourhood outside the hustle and bustle of the city, the siblings have been focussing on what is ahead of them in April, similar to how students prepare for Class X or XII board exams. Overseeing their preparations is RB Ramesh, who has been coaching them since they were kids.
Having booked their Candidates berths earlier this year, the two have already decided to limit the tournaments they will feature in from now till April, and instead are studying each of their seven opponents they will face in Toronto, Canada.
Although Ramesh kept his cards close to his chest, he shed insights into the work going behind the scenes. “We cannot discuss too much in the public eye. But we are putting out a team for both players and we have already had one camp for them and there will be more to follow. They will also be playing in tournaments from time-to-time,” Ramesh said.
“We cannot discuss too much in the public eye. But we are putting out a team for both players and we have already had one camp for them and there will be more to follow,” said RB Ramesh on the sibling duo. (PTI)
With the winners of the Candidates to face China’s Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun in the World Chess Championship later next year, Ramesh is yet to decide if he would travel with the pair to Canada or stay put in Chennai and ass them remotely.
“We are still thinking about it. The point is not for me to travel to Canada but what’s the best way for me to help them. There’s a 12-hour time difference between India and Canada so maybe it makes sense to take advantage of it,” Ramesh said.
With multiple camps in store, Ramesh said they would be trying to find a balance between featuring in the tournaments and preparation. Apart from breaking the monotony, it would also ensure the two won’t miss out on making some financial gains participation, which would be key for their future travel. The duo is set to feature in the World Rapid and Blitz tournament scheduled for the next week in Samarkand, Uzbekan.
“It’s not very tough. This is just a question of scheduling,” Ramesh said about how they plan to find balance between camps and playing tournaments. “We already know which tournaments he (Praggnanandhaa) will play from now till the Candidates, there won’t be many of them. Whatever time we have in between, we are trying to get some camps for him and also prepare him psychologically and physically as well,” he added.
While all the attention has been on Praggnanandhaa for the past couple of years, Vaishali too has been making headlines off-late. Ramesh attributed it to the work put in Vaishali with GM Sandipan Chanda, who has been working with her for the past few months. “She has always had the potential and when we started working 10 years ago, Pragg was not the better player. Vaishali was probably 300-400 points above Pragg. In couple of years, Pragg had become an IM. From then, he started overtaking Vaishali in terms of performances and rating. So this change was tough on her. We used to have discussions on this. Now she is feeling very secure with her own identity and performance. That’s a big positive. She’s believing more in herself. Last few tournaments have been amazing. She also crossed the rating barrier (2500). Because she was kind of stuck at 2430 for some time and it looked like a steep climb. But she got it in a span of a few months and that’s a positive sign. It shows she knows what works for her. Otherwise 70 points gain at this level is not easy,” Ramesh said.
Speaking of Pragg, Ramesh said that the teenager, who had issues with his openings earlier, has now managed to turn it into his strength thanks to the fantasticmemory level he possesses. “Chess wise, he has been evolving. Earlier his endgames were not good and his openings were not good and his defensive skills were not very good. His positional strength also had some issues. He was good in calculations, attacks and his memory was good. So there were some strengths and some things that needed to be worked upon.”

Elaborating further Ramesh said. “It took 2-3 years to build a very comprehensive opening repertoire. At the high level, they can play too many openings and you need to have 3-4 solutions against all set-ups. That means you need to process all of that, understand, and remember them which is very difficult. But in his case, he has a fantastic memory. Openings, one of his problem areas, has become his strength. His defensive qualities have improved a lot. Probably one of the top three. I now feel he’s a complete player.”