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Chess guru RB Ramesh reveals differences between Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi

Talking about the world champion, RB Ramesh said: "In the case of Gukesh, I think his main strength is his insane self-belief. He just thinks he is too good, and that helps him; he can do dubious things and still get away with them."

3 min readJan 30, 2026 04:01 PM IST

RB Ramesh (left) with Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh Chithambaram and Karthikeyan Murali. (PHOTO Praggnanandhaa via X)

One of India’s top chess gurus, RB Ramesh, has broken down the difference between India’s top three prodigies—world champion Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa—who are also flagbearers of India’s chess revolution.

Ramesh is the man who has shaped some of India’s best chess players like Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Aravindh Chitambaram.

Talking about Indian players as compared to rest of the players from the world, Ramesh told woman grandmaster and content creator Dina Belenkaya: “Generally, the Indian players are, in my view, mentally tougher than the rest.”

Then he explained the ‘significant’ differences between the Indian trio.

“I would say Arjun is probably mentally tougher than the other two. His style is more enterprising, and he can bounce back from bad performances. He can play a tournament badly, and in the next tournament, he can be a monster. In my view, he’s kind of a complete player and manages his time much better than the other two,” Ramesh said in the interview for Belenkaya’s YouTube channel.

“Then, in the case of Gukesh, I think his main strength is his insane self-belief. He just thinks he is too good, and that helps him; he can do dubious things and still get away with them. That gives him the courage to do risky or insane things, and even in difficult situations, he is still believing in himself. I think that is his main strength.

“And for Pragg, it keeps varying. I’m myself confused at times, but generally, chess-wise, he was probably the better among the three. I’m just talking as a professional. Chess-wise, I would say his chess was much better than the other two, but I feel in the last two or three years he has kind of molded himself in one particular way. His strengths in other areas are not that visible. So now I feel the main challenge is: can he bring those other strengths back into his form? I think that is his main challenge. That’s how I see it. Some of his main strengths are well-hidden now; they’re not visible at all.”

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When asked to name some of Pragg’s strengths, Ramesh said: “He can actually play complicated positions well. In the last couple of years, I see him play more solid and stable. He takes risks in some games, but that is mostly out of the opening preparation. If the opening preparation comes on the board, he gets some enterprising positions. But if given a choice between playing safe and choosing a risky continuation, he tends toward choosing the safer option. That is also probably because he has been playing an insane amount of tournaments in the last couple of years. When you are just playing one tournament after another, practically living out of a suitcase, you don’t get time to introspect—to look at yourself, what you’re doing, what changes you should be making. To just think about yourself, you need some individual space and time, which unfortunately he has not been getting the last couple of years.”