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Journalism of Courage
Aravindh Chithambaram’s favourite piece on a chessboard is the pawn. So much so that he calls himself pawnof64squares. Much of his career too has progressed like a pawn, in the shadows, overlooked and understated. He was better known as a friend, guide, elder brother and sparring partner to many of his younger peers such as R Praggnanandhaa. But in the last few months he has made such rapid strides that he has transformed from yet another 2600 player to a serious contender of Super GM (2750-plus rated).
At the start of 2024, he was outside the top-100 in the world in live ratings. Now he is 14th in live rating, leaping above the legendary Viswanathan Anand, and emphatically won the Prague Masters on Friday, emerging unbeaten in a tough field featuring Vincent Keymer, Wei Yi and Anish Giri.
Raised by a single mother in Madurai—his father died when he was three—before shifting to Chennai upon the insistence of GM RB Ramesh, his coach, he was a lively presence in almost every tournament in Chennai. Like thousands of others, his first love was cricket but it was only after the inclination of his grandfather that he took a serious interest in chess.
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Calm and mild-mannered, he always played with a warm smile. He was touted as the next big talent from Tamil Nadu after Aravindh, only 13 and a FIDE Master, beat four Grandmasters to win the Chennai GM Open, held in the backdrop of the Viswanathan Anand—Magnus Carlsen World Championship duel in 2013.
But a pessimist by nature, he always flew under the radar and his career never took off the way many had been predicting until 2024. In the 2018-19 season, he was crowned national champion in all three formats, he defended the senior title in the next edition too. But couldn’t consolidate on the platform.
The catalyst of the upswing, Ramesh had told this newspaper, was realising his own strengths. “These days he’s feeling more certain about himself. When you feel calm inside, in your mind, things work out better for you. In the last one year, he has been very consistent, gradually increasing his rating, crossing 2,700, which was an important milestone. Then he started accelerating, and now he’s close to 2720. Now he’ll be feeling that I belong to this group of players. I’m good enough,” explained Ramesh.
Self-doubts had crippled him in the past. “There are times when he will feel low in confidence so that used to drag him down a lot,” Ramesh had told The Indian Express in 2024 after Aravindh won the Chennai Grandmasters ahead of big names like Arjun Erigaisi, Levon Aronian, Vidit Gujrathi and Parham Maghsoodloo.
His new surge of confidence sparkled in Prague. “I don’t know what is happening with my life,” a shell-shocked Aravindh told Chessbase India after his win over Wei. Things were moving fast for Aravindh.
En route to winning the title, he stumbled onto R. Praggnanandhaa, his close friend at the Chess Gurukul under Ramesh. In the fifth round, the 25-year-old went head-to-head with Praggnanandhaa, both tied for the tournament lead with 3.0/4 points. Praggnanandhaa was riding high after two consecutive victories against Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Keymer. Before the match, Aravindh, seated across from Praggnanandhaa, greeted his friend with a broad smile and enthusiastic applause as Praggnanandhaa received an award for having the best game of the previous day in round four.
Off the board, they are friends, but on the board, they transformed into fierce competitors, leaving no room for camaraderie as they battled to a hard-fought draw. Once an under-confident individual, Aravindh has now blossomed into a top-tier performer, embracing a life of profound change. And like second world champion Emanuel Lasker had said, “Chess is, above all, a fight. No matter how you define it, the point is to win.” Aravindh knows how to fight and certainly knows how to win, as he has shed his shell of reticence.
