Little young grandmasters!

UPDATE: 17 year old Gukesh from Chennai emerges the Candidates champion! Way to go. God bless him and soon he will be world No.1. The contenders to the title may be fellow Indians: Prags, Vaishali etc. What a beauty. All 3 are from Chennai and Prag and Gukesh are under 20! Gukesh is the world’s youngest ever candidates champion. Extremely proud of him. God bless you son, may you win many, many, many more laurels making the country proud.

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I am a lousy chess player who plays only at home and lose even every game to my younger sis. No strategy nothing! Nevertheless I love chess and used to play for hours with friends in my pre-teens and teens. There were one or two who would lose even to me!!! So it excites me to see 3 young Chennai people in top 10 or 20 FIDE rankings: Gukesh 17, Prag 18 and his sister Vaishali bit elder to him, all grandmasters already. Two siblings have made it to top 10 which is incredulous. Many more from India are queuing up under 100 ranks. Wow I think we have never had it soooo good. Best of luck to these young people who come from very humble backgrounds. One or two had problems paying school fees, paying for chess club memberships etc. Their modesty really floors me. You don’t have to don a 3 piece suit and strut ultra sophisticated to prove your mettle on the world stage. Prag and Vaishali’s mother especially touches me totally with her humility and innocence. I read about their father and I felt such an emotion for them. What a family. This is why I still believe in the magic called India and in real talent that cannot be hidden. Talent will surface and sprout from any little crevice breaking through the concrete to the glow of the sunlight. God bless these kids. Make India proud guys. Cricket is not the world.