Life at the top can be lonely, and for India’s chess star R Praggnanandhaa, constant travel and competition come with their own challenges.
Praggnanandhaa admits that maintaining a packed schedule is not always sustainable and said players eventually have to make tough decisions about which events to prioritise.
“I’m trying to keep it a bit more light this year. I’m still probably gonna play almost all the tournaments, but I will probably skip like the Esports World Cup. At some point, you just have to prioritise,” Praggnanandhaa was quoted as saying by The Indian Express on Thursday.
The 19-year-old also spoke about the mental strain of playing continuously without sufficient breaks, revealing that the demands of last season left him feeling exhausted
despite enjoying strong results.
“I’ll try to play less and have breaks in between. Last year was, even though the results went my way, it was a bit too much. So much of chess. At some point, you’re just burnt out. You don’t have the energy. Even if you have physical energy, you just don’t have the mental energy to do the same thing pretty much in every tournament. Having the same routine gets tiring at some point. It just becomes automatic that you just don’t enjoy it anymore,” he said.
Praggnanandhaa, who became the youngest International Master in history at the age of 10, believes pursuing interests beyond chess could ultimately benefit his game.
“Sometimes I do feel like I focus too much on chess. Certainly, I think having a different hobby, could help chess as well. There are some things that I want to try in the future,” he said.
With most of his life centred around chess, Praggnanandhaa acknowledged the sacrifices he has made along the way, but said he has no regrets about the choices that helped shape his career.
“If I was doing that, I probably would not be here today. You have to give up certain things for certain things. I don’t really regret it, but of course, I would have loved to have some school friends or college friends back home. But when I am going for something much more bigger, I am happy with how things are right now,” he said.
