Indian prodigy second youngest GM at 12 years

New Delhi: A 12-year-old Indian boy described as “unstoppable” by his proud father has become the world’s second youngest chess grandmaster ever.

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, the son of a bank employee from the southern city of Chennai, achieved the feat with some aggressive play at an event in northern Italy that ended on Sunday.

Praggnanandhaa — whose 17-year-old big sister Vaishali Rameshbabu is also no slouch at the game, being a two-time youth chess champion — was aged 12 years, 10 months and 13 days when he won the title. Praggnanandhaa’s father said that his son, who practises six hours a day and watches past matches online, was not even four when he first started taking an interest in chess.