R Praggnanandhaa is Vaibhav Suri’s invisible second (Photo by Michal Walusza) NEW DELHI: FIDE Master (FM) Prasenjit Dutta, a man whose life has been a series of tactical gambles and game recoveries, runs a renowned academy in the heart of New Delhi. For years he followed a predictable ritual. Whenever a particularly gifted student walked through his door, Dutta picked up the phone and called his former protégé, the 27th Grandmaster of India, Vaibhav Suri. He would ask for a tip, or as one might say, a short hit to sharpen the young mind. Vaibhav almost always said, “Sure sir.” But now this ritual has been suspended.The shift has nothing to do with fraying their bond, which Dutta describes as more filial than professional. It has everything to do with the fact that Suri disappeared into the high-stakes war room of 20-year-old R Praggnanandha. As the young phenom struggles at the highest levels of international chess, Suri, now 29, stands behind him as the chief architect of his preparation.
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Exclusive Nihal Sarin: 2026 Candidates Predictions, Anish Giri’s ‘Drawish’ Label & More #chess “He is now fully focused (on Praggnanandhaa),” Dutta told TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive interview. “He says to me, ‘Lord, you know everything. I don’t want to take my mind away.’ I tell him, ‘Son, this is exactly what I want to hear from you.'”
Heartbreak for 3000 rupees
To understand who is behind Praggnanandhaa’s success in recent years, we must first understand who built Suri. Prasenjit Dutta’s journey began in the remote chess landscape of Agartala, Tripura, in 1989. In 1995, he became the National Sub-Junior Champion, India’s youngest FIDE Champion and a prodigy destined for the world stage in Brazil.But when it mattered, the clock ran out on his finances. “Because of the final FIDE fee of 3,000 rupees, I couldn’t pay,” Dutta recalled. “As a result, I retired from chess for almost three years. I thought there was no point in playing because I couldn’t do anything for financial reasons.”Dutta eventually returned, driven by seeing the names of his peers in the papers. He became a seven-time national champion and university gold medalist. Two decades ago, he gradually started training children.At a tournament in Kerala with three of his students, he was dubbed “India’s youngest coach” by a local newspaper. It was there that he met a boy from Delhi named Aditya Vikram Ahuja. Dutta agreed to his father’s request to visit Delhi and train his son and began teaching occasionally. It was not common as his academy was still functioning in Tripura.
Prasenjit Dutta (photo by David Llada)
It was at the state championship in Delhi that he met Vaibhav’s father Nitin Suri for the first time.“He saw Aditya’s performance improving and asked me, ‘Sir, where do you live? Can you train?’ I said, ‘Yes, I will train.’ But at that time I was not quite ready to stay in Delhi,” Dutta told this website.The turning point came when Bharat Singh Chauhan, president of the Delhi Chess Association (DCA), visited Tripura. He toured Dutt’s small academy and saw potential in the young coach. “Prasanjit, come to Delhi. I will help you. We need more coaches and your highest rank was 2317. I have known you for a long time. Come to Delhi. I will support you,” Chauhan told him. This personal encouragement convinced Dutta to make the move.“I had two months left for my master’s final exams. His father kept saying, ‘Sir, please, please.’ I thought, well, here’s my opportunity. I will try it. If I can’t appear for the exam, I can take it again,” Dutta recalled.He was in Delhi in August 2006 training Vaibhav.
Vaibhav Suri, the boy with the chessboard
Now that Dutta was in Delhi, grinding alongside nine-year-old Vaibhav became their routine. He found a student whose stamina defied his age.“From August 2006, I trained him for eight to nine hours a day,” Dutta recalled. “I gave it my all. I also played cricket and football at state level. But when I was teaching here from morning to night, I felt, ‘Oh my God! I’ve never taught this before’.”While the coach languished beneath the Delhi heat and mental strain, the student thrived. “The upside was that when we had long hours, my body was tired, but the boy seemed energized, pumped up, more chess-crazy. It was the first time I’d seen anything like that in a child,” he said. “Even after seven hours of training, he still had the energy to learn. I haven’t seen any student in the class with that much energy.”
Vaibhav Suri (Special Arrangement)
Suri’s devotion was visceral. “He was very fond of chess from the beginning,” Dutta recalled. “I saw over the years that he never let go of the chessboard and the bag of chess pieces. Even when he slept, he kept them close to him. I asked, ‘What’s so special about this? Why don’t you let anyone touch it?’In an age of digital distractions, young Suri was an anomaly. There was no television, no idle wandering. If the class was scheduled for 2pm and Dutta was five minutes late, he would call out, “Sir, where have you been? Come quickly.”
Confidence without showing off
As the years passed, their relationship developed into a friendly competition. Dutta, in his early twenties and hovering around a 2300 rating, raced against Suri ahead of the juniors to become the first to secure the International Master (IM) title.“Wherever he plays, I will play too,” Dutta said. “It was a complete family atmosphere. His family treated me like their own son.”Suri’s first national under-9 tournament in Solapur finished second. He was later selected for the Asian and World Championships. “That’s when I got my first laptop, gifted by his father, for proper coaching,” Dutta smiled.
I am proud inside that he has chosen a good player in Praggnanandhaa and he has seriously focused.
FM Prasenjit Dutta, former coach of Vaibhav Suri
Suri had already demonstrated a depth of calculation that surpassed his mentor. Dutta would test him with difficult poses from the books.“I did it just to check,” Dutta added. “Here the white king, here the rook, here the knight. He gave the correct answer. He would carefully think for five minutes and answer again. He finished the whole book with me in this way. I was amazed. I knew then that this player would be very difficult to stop.”Suri’s style was defined by a tight, positional understanding, which allowed him to play with frightening confidence. Dutta recalls the state championship where Suri faced a stronger opponent.
Vaibhav Suri (Special Arrangement)
“He said, ‘Sir, my next round is against this tough guy. What should I play?’ I casually told him, ‘Play Pirc Defense’. I never gave him a full prep or showed him the line. Yet he went and won. What confidence! I could never tell anyone else, ‘Just play this and you’ll win’.”Vaibhav Suri became India’s 27th Grandmaster in 2012. He is known on the circuit as cool and composed, he spoke very little but calculated everything on the board.It was these qualities, the lack of publicity, the refusal to show off, that made him the perfect second in command to R Praggnanandha. READ ALSO: ‘We saw tanks on the road’: How it feels to play chess in the middle of a regional conflictIn modern times, the other is part sparring partner, part data analyst and part psychological anchor. With his exceptional positional style and total absorption, Suri became the invisible hand behind Pragg’s most daring maneuvers.“He never seeks publicity,” Dutta concluded. “He remains calm even in front of the camera. I feel proud inside that he has chosen a good player in Praggnanandhaa and he is seriously focused.”
