"Mentally, Physically Exhausted": Praggnanandhaa On Why Magnus Carlsen Is Moving Away From Classical Chess

NDTV

4 days ago

Teenage Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa believes players like Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura gradually moving away from classical chess has to do with the mental and physical exhaustion that comes with playing the long format for a long time. Magnus, the five-time world champion, and world No.2 American Grandmaster Nakamura have played fewer classical games, and instead focused on freestyle, rapid and blitz formats. Praggnanandhaa, who has won three major classical titles this year, feels players don't really enjoy the hours of preparations that goes into classical chess, and find the rapid and blitz more gratifying.
"It's difficult to play classical chess because everyone is well prepared... the opening preparation part is huge in classical chess. If you compare it to freestyle, you don't have to prepare before a game, while in classical chess, you're basically forced to.
"I don't think anyone actually enjoys that process, but you're forced to and you have to have a plan for everything. That requires a lot of effort," said Praggnanandhaa, who has won the Tata Steel Masters, Superbet Classic and Uz Chess Cup this year.
The 19-year-old from Chennai feels chances of burnout also increase with years of playing classical chess.
"And when you play a lot of such tournaments, then your energy is also (drained)... I mean you can also be mentally and physically exhausted. So all these things happen. I think that's the reason why everyone prefers other formats," Praggnanandhaa said.
"I mean, I myself like freestyle much more because of the fact that you don't have to prepare before a game. That doesn't mean we don't want to work on (our) chess. We enjoy working on chess.
"But the fact that you have to (put endless hours in preparations)... you're forced to do before the game like three-four hours of preparation, then it's not really something that everyone enjoys. So yeah, I like freestyle. I like rapid and it's a bit more than classical for sure. But I think classical is still the main thing." Praggnanandhaa credits his professional growth to the support being provided by the Adani group for the last year and a half.
"Adani Sportsline have been supporting me for the last one-and-a-half years already. And it's quite important because we do travel a lot and training is also expensive than what people think," says Praggnanandhaa.
"For example, last year, I played in the Candidates, which required a team to help and then also like in-person camps. So all these things require support and that's where I think the Adani group has been supporting me in a huge way.
"And they were also there when I didn't have (a good) last year; they were there supporting me throughout. So, yeah, a huge thanks to them."
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