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Journalism of Courage
Chess Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan slammed content company Curly Tales after they uploaded a video on R Praggnanandhaa but in the 58th second-mark of the video, they doctored Pragg’s face on World Champion’s Gukesh’s body. The doctored video showed Pragg playing against World No.1 Magnus Carlsen who banged his fist on the table which is a well documented viral moment but the player who was playing opposite the Norwegian in the original video was Gukesh.
“Seeing @CurlyTalesIndia replace @rpraggnachess’s face in place of @DGukesh feels disrespectful. I personally feel that it crosses a line. Within the Indian chess community, we stand united for each other’s achievements. I fear such misrepresentation only leaves a bad taste,” Narayanan posted on X with the screenshot from the video titled ‘Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa: Untold Story Of Childhood, Struggles & Success.’
The original video was from Norway Chess back in June, where the 19-year-old Gukesh had notched up a victory over the world no 1 Carlsen after 62 moves.
“Oh my God!” bellowed a livid Magnus Carlsen as he looked away from the chess board and his opponent, the 19-year-old Gukesh, who had just defeated the Norwegian for the first time in a classical chess contest. Just seconds before that moment, Carlsen, one of the greatest chess players in history, had slammed a balled fist on the chess board with such brute force that a seismic tremor had gone through the board toppling over pieces. Some of the pieces had remained standing. One of them was Gukesh’s king.
Carlsen apologized to Gukesh — twice — for the emotional outburst, which was uncharacteristic for a chess game, and then, as he power-walked his way out of the playing hall after signing his score sheet and banging the black king erect in the middle of the board, he patted the Indian teenager on his back, a gesture that requires no translation universally. Carlsen’s anger was understandable. He was looking like he was going to win for plenty of the game. Then, like the Stavanger weather, in the blink of an eye, everything changed. Dramatically.
