‘I need urgent help’: Teammate R Praggnanandhaa Pranesh hit with visa ahead of World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship

Vaishali’s mother Nagalakshmi, Pranesh M, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Vaibhav Suri (Photo by Michal Walusza) NEW DELHI: A visa issue has thrown doubt over Indian chess prodigy Pranesh Munirethinam’s participation in the upcoming FIDE Rapid and Blitz World Team Championship in Hong Kong, prompting an urgent appeal from coach RB Ramesh.Ramesh revealed on X on Tuesday that 19-year-old Pranesh, who is currently competing in the French League, has yet to receive a Hong Kong visa despite the application being submitted well in advance. “Our team ChessGurukul is scheduled to participate in the Rapid & Blitz World Championship organized by @FIDE_chess in Hong Kong between June 16-22. Our player Pranesh Munirethinam @Praneshchess has not yet obtained a visa for the same. We have applied for him and need help from the relevant French officials, currently he is expected to go to Pranesh. to Hong Kong directly from France, you need urgent help to get him a Hong Kong visa!” written by Ramesh.Scheduled for June 17-21, the tournament will feature a strong Chess Gurukul line-up led by Indian stars R Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali Rameshbabu. The team also includes Aravindh Chithambaram, Karthikeyan Murali, Rakshitta Ravi, Vishruth B and Varsha Ramesh.Earlier, Ramesh expressed his excitement about taking the ChessGurukul team to the international stage, writing, “One of my long time dreams is to take @chessgurukul to an international team event becoming a reality! I can’t wait! My wife @Aarthieramesh will be the team manager/captain. Daughter in my Varsha20 will be playing very close to one of them. 0 dream team!”Pranesh’s possible absence would be a significant blow. The young player recently played a key supporting role during Vaishali’s successful Candidates campaign in Cyprus, which earned her a World Championship match against China’s Ju Wenjun.

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After her triumph, Vaishali emphasized Pranesh’s importance off the board.“The idea was that I could be tense, because there are a lot of tense moments, and he would keep it light. That was the plan. And that’s exactly what happened,” she said.“We were very supportive throughout the tournament and we played a lot of table tennis and fell,” she added.With the tournament fast approaching, ChessGurukul will be hoping that the visa issue is resolved quickly so that Pranesh can join the team in Hong Kong.