Why Praggnanandhaa’s victory in Norwegian Chess 2026 brings back faith in good times in Indian chess?

Mother always gives the best advice. From childhood to adulthood, mothers always lead their children to greater success. Praggnanandhaa encountered something similar in Oslo. Praggnanandhaa was in the bottom half of the table for almost half of Norwegian Chess 2026. One notable thing was that he beat Magnus Carlsen, the GOAT in chess in the 3rd round. Expectations from Praggnanandhaa were not so much in Norway. Even that was not high from the Indian contingent. Then Pragga’s mother Nagalakshmi came on the scene.

Nagalakshmi has always been a supermom to Pragg and Vaishali. There is an iconic photograph of Nagalakshmi admiring Pragg defeating Hikaru Nakamura at the World Chess Cup 2023. Now, three years later, she gave a viral piece of advice that completely turned his fortunes around in Norwegian chess.

“It’s a new month, you will play well. This was Nagalakshmi’s advice to Praggnanandha. Speaking to India Today, Praggnananandhaa recalled these words after securing a historic victory in Norway.

“I guess it’s just one of those things. I took it as one of those things that Amma would say, like when you’re in a tough situation, to cheer you up. But I really didn’t think it would come true. Once I started getting wins, I thought about her word every day.”

NORWEGIAN CHESS – INCREDIBLE BET

R Praggnanandhaa competes against Germany’s Vincent Keymer during the Norwegian Chess in Oslo. (Photo: PTI)

To have a shot at the title, Praggnananandhaa needed to be at the bottom of the table and needed to win every match. The format of Norwegian chess was that a win got you three points. A draw plus a win in Armageddon gave you 1.5 points. Pragg took his mother’s advice and won four straight classic matches against Alireza Firoujza, Magnus Carlsen for the second time, world champion Gukesh and Vincent Keymer.

Before the final round, Pragg needed to defeat Vincent in a classic duel to ensure that Alireza and Wesley So’s game went to a tiebreak. Both of these situations played out perfectly and Praggnanandhaa scripted the ultimate chess heist.

What impressed Pragg? Two things. He played a bit faster and secured better time management, something that Gueksh and Magnus Carlsen also lacked.

“I had an off day. Then I lost two in a row. Then I won two in a row. Then we had an off day. There was no gap in between to bounce back. When you see it as four wins in a row, it sounds great. But I just took it one game at a time. Winning that one game was all I needed to do. It makes it a little bit easier to play for something special. I was just really simplifying it a little bit to do something faster.’ This has given me much more control over the last four matches.

Did Pragg mean all the permutations and combinations of the last day? He was half a point behind Wesley So in round 10. But Pragg already had plans to deal with the pressure.

“If there was a decision, it was either go or no go. My position was that I didn’t have much risk. I just pushed. The worst case that could happen to me is a draw. If I needed a draw, I would push anyway because it’s just a position without any risk. I saw that I liked Wesley’s positions, but it was around the draw, I saw that it was always the same. it was a draw, I knew that I just had to win, I realized that I had completely won. At that moment, there was some nervousness.

WHIPPING MAGNA TWICE – CAKE CAKE

Watch the incredible final moments of Praggnanandhaa defeating world number one Magnus Carlsen with the black pieces in the 8th round of Norwegian Chess 2026!

With this win, Pragg becomes the first Indian (and possibly the world) player to defeat Magnus Carlsen in classical chess pic.twitter.com/MFvJPdBhel— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) June 2, 2026

In recorded chess history, only two players before Norwegian Chess had beaten Magnus Carlsen twice in the same edition. One of them was Viswanathan Anand at the Linares event in 2007. The other was Vaselin Topalov at the 2008 Bilbao Masters Grand Slam tournament. But 2007 and 2008 didn’t give birth to the GOAT Magnus His record over the past two decades has been spectacular. Five-time world champion, multiple world champion in rapid and blitz, winner of most titles in free chess and its format. There is no peak that Magnus has not conquered in his illustrious career. At home, he won Norwegian chess 7 times. Despite the famous ‘table-bang’ loss to Gukesh in 2025, he still won Norwegian Chess.

Faced with such incredible achievements, every player was stunned. But not Praggnananandhaa. Not only did he beat Magnus once, he beat him twice. In fact, all of Praggnanandhaa’s classic victories against Magnus came on his guardian Norway. In one tournament, Pragg joined Vishy and Topalov in defeating Magnus with both suits. In both cases, it was Magnus’ royal error that secured Pragg’s victory.

How did Pragg make Magnus mortal in Norway? “I’ve always wanted to win the tournament before Magnus because whenever he’s there, he usually wins it. But to win the tournament is much more special, especially coming from last place four days ago. To win the tournament from this position is something I never imagined. It’s definitely a dream come true and I’m very happy that it happened,” commented Pragg.

SEEING HAPPINESS FROM THE FAMILY AND VAISHALI

R Praggnanandhaa, mother Nagalaxmi and sister Viashali hoisting the Indian flag on top of the World Chess (Photo: screenshot from X/@DearthOfSid)

At the start of 2026, Pragg had low confidence heading into the Candidates Tournament. It was a crushing experience for Pragg as he lost twice to Javokhir Sindarov. These losses destroyed his World Chess Championship hopes. All the efforts made since the beginning of 2025 failed during the same period in 2026. The warning signs were there. Pragg lost his momentum after UzChess and by the end of the fag he just scraped out of the FIDE circuit as he had a gap with Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Candidates’ loss stunned Praggnanandha. However, he immediately recovered. All thanks to his sister Vaishali, who scripted to become the first Indian player to win the nominations and secure a place at the World Cup. That moment was a turning point for Pragg in his quest to do well in Norway. The candidates and the win in Norway really relieved Rameshbaba’s family in many ways.

“It’s a happy moment for our family. I’d say the Candidates is a lot more special and important to the family because it’s something we’ve always dreamed of playing in the World Cup and hopefully winning it. For me, the last two years, all I’ve been thinking about is getting out there and winning it. I was definitely disappointed that I couldn’t do well. But, my sister winning, that definitely helped me in my recovery,” Pragg said.

In the last few years, Indian chess grandmasters have struggled to win major tournaments. Optimism around Indian chess has waned. But Praggnanandha’s victory and Vaishali’s candidate title gave new energy and hope.

The likes of Gukesh are currently struggling in a World Cup year. However, one has seen that the current bunch of Indian stars are feeding off the success that others are having. If Pragg wins, it motivates Gukesh and Arjun. If Gukesh wins, others will be motivated to up their game. This atmosphere is really good for Indian chess. One hopes that Pragg’s Norwegian Chess title will go a long way in helping India secure greater success in the upcoming Olympics and World Chess Championship.

– The end

Published on:

08 Jun 2026 09:30 IST