By News18
Teenage Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa believes that players like Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are gradually moving away from classical chess due to the mental and physical exhaustion associated with playing the long format for extended periods.
Magnus, a five-time world champion, and world No.2 American Grandmaster Nakamura have been playing fewer classical games, opting instead for freestyle, rapid, and blitz formats.
Praggnanandhaa, who has won three major classical titles this year, feels players do not particularly enjoy the extensive hours of preparation required for classical chess and find rapid and blitz more satisfying.
鈥溾滻t鈥檚 difficult to play classical chess because everyone is well prepared鈥 the opening preparation part is huge in classical chess. If you compare it to freestyle, you don鈥檛 have to prepare before a game, while in classical chess, you鈥檙e basically forced to.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think anyone actually enjoys that process, but you鈥檙e forced to and you have to have a plan for everything. That requires a lot of effort,鈥 said Praggnanandhaa, who has won the Tata Steel Masters, Superbet Classic, and Uz Chess Cup this year.
Why Classical Over Blitz?
The 19-year-old from Chennai believes that the chances of burnout increase with years of playing classical chess.
鈥淎nd when you play a lot of such tournaments, then your energy is also (drained)鈥 I mean you can also be mentally and physically exhausted. So all these things happen. I think that鈥檚 the reason why everyone prefers other formats,鈥 Praggnanandhaa said.
鈥淚 mean, I myself like freestyle much more because of the fact that you don鈥檛 have to prepare before a game. That doesn鈥檛 mean we don鈥檛 want to work on (our) chess. We enjoy working on chess.
鈥淏ut the fact that you have to (put endless hours in preparations)鈥 you鈥檙e forced to do before the game like three-four hours of preparation, then it鈥檚 not really something that everyone enjoys. So yeah, I like freestyle. I like rapid and it鈥檚 a bit more than classical for sure. But I think classical is still the main thing.鈥
Praggnanandhaa credits his professional growth to the support provided by the Adani Group over the last year and a half.
鈥淎dani Sportsline have been supporting me for the last one-and-a-half years already. And it鈥檚 quite important because we do travel a lot and training is also expensive than what people think,鈥 says Praggnanandhaa.
鈥淔or example, last year, I played in the Candidates, which required a team to help and then also like in-person camps. So all these things require support and that鈥檚 where I think the Adani group has been supporting me in a huge way.
鈥淎nd they were also there when I didn鈥檛 have (a good) last year; they were there supporting me throughout. So, yeah, a huge thanks to them.鈥
(With inputs from PTI)