Chennai: Indian chess grandmaster and runner-up of the recent World Chess Championship FIDE, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa on Wednesday met the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and his son and state Youth Welfare and Sports Minister Udayanidhi Stalin.
The young chess sensation was received at the official residence of the Chief Minister and the CM handed over a memento and a Cheque of Rs 30 lakhs to the chess prodigy who reached India on Wednesday from Azerbaijan where the World Chess Championship was held.
His parents Ramesh Babu, and Nagalaskhmi, and coach RB Ramesh were also present in the meeting.
Praggnanandhaa, who defeated Hikaru Nakamura and Fabia Caruna, both world beaters before losing a closely contested fight with world number one Magnus Carlson, said that he was thrilled at the splendid reception at the Chennai International Airport and subsequent warm welcome at the Chief Minister’s residence.
“I am very happy and thrilled to see people coming in large numbers and recognising chess. This tells us that chess is growing as a sport,” he told the media persons.
He further said that his main aim was to qualify for the candidates at the World Cup and was happy at having achieved that.
With inputs from IANS