Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali and Humpy making heads turn in land of Magnus Carlsen during Norway Chess

CHESS LEGEND Garry Kasparov called it the Wimbledon of the 64 black and white squares. But Norway Chess, an invitational tournament that began in Stavanger on Monday, is resplendent this year with the sport’s most dazzling northern lights — home legend and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen and the organisers’ must-have on the wishlist, the chess stars from India.

The presence of the world’s most famous chess siblings — teenager R Praggnanandhaa and his sister R Vaishali – has a hard to miss buzz around them in Magnus-land. Travelling with their mother, they are chased by autograph hunters and selfie seekers. Among them is an important fan who has travelled miles to meet them.

Himanshu Gulati, an Indian-origin MP with the Progress Party, had his reasons to make a dash here from Oslo. “A few years ago, I would have come to this event just to get a selfie with Magnus Carlsen. But today, I mostly came here from Oslo to meet with Praggnanandhaa. He’s the talk of the world right now,” Gulati told The Indian Express.

Himanshu Gulati, an Indian-origin member of Parliament with the Progress Party, poses with Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali ahead of the first day of the Norway Chess event. (Express Photo by Amit Kamath)

“India should be really proud of the talents they have produced. In the world of chess, India is definitely a dominant force at the moment. You can see that India is really making its mark in Norway Chess with so many Indians. These young Indians are the future of chess,” he said.

The Indians will be tested since the carefully curated field includes both reigning world champions Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun, World No 2 and No 3 Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura and world championship challenger Lei Tingjie. India’s veteran star Humpy Koneru is also part of the elite six-player field at the event’s first women’s edition.

“This year we have Praggnanandhaa competing. Last year it was Gukesh. Pentala Harikrishna was here some years ago. So we have had four different players from India (including Vishy Anand),” said Kjell Madland, founder and director of Norway Chess, an event that remains smitten by Indian chess whizzes.

“India is a huge country for chess. A lot of Indian players are very talented. We used to have Anand playing here for many years. It’s a massive honour for us to have him play here. Indian players are so nice. And they’re always professional. They’re so young, but so good,” said Madland.

The crowd favourite though remains Norway’s greatest chess player Carlsen, and fans are making a pilgrimage to catch him in action. “If I get to talk to Magnus Carlsen, I just want to ask him, ‘how are you so good?’,” said 11-year-old Isabella Fontana, one of the many children who turned up at the SR-Bank’s main building, hosting the tournament.

The Fontanas have lived in Stavanger for a year since moving here from the US for work. Despite their roots, Isabella and her younger brother Isaiah, 9, are massive Carlsen fans rather than rooting for Americans Nakamura or Caruana. And when they heard that Carlsen would be in action, they just had to be at the playing hall, even if it meant getting to the venue almost two hours before the first round. “It’s crazy how anybody can be that good at chess, finding new strategies and beating people,” said Isabella.

The Fontana family who arrived at the playing hall nearly two hours before the first round of Norway Chess started. Both Isabella and her younger brother nine-year-old Isaiah are massive Carlsen fans. (Express Photo by Amit Kamath)

Her brother Isaiah is an early convert to Magnus-mania: “Magnus is just really good. I watched plenty of videos of his matches. So I know he has a really good strategy.”

While France’s Alireza Firouzja is another star attraction, it is the Indian prodigies whose participation the organisers were equally keen to ensure. “It’s very important for us to have players from India every year. But it’s not easy to pick the player we invite because so many of them are so good. Maybe we’ll have to pick more than one (from next year),” said Madland.

Unlike open events, where anyone can enter, or those where qualification routes decide who gets to play, invitational tournaments see organisers decide who to invite based on parameters like how good a player is and their personality.

While the decision on which Indian they get to invite among the elite six-player field might have the organisers fretting, what Madland takes particular pride in is the fact that they foresaw the rise of Gukesh, who sensationally became the youngest World Championship challenger at Candidates last month.

“When we invited Gukesh to play in the main event last year, he was about World No 30 in the ratings list. But by the time the event ended, he rose to World No 9,” said Madland.

The 2023 Norway Chess event was also where Gukesh started working full time with his current trainer Grzegorz Gajewski, a partnership that has now led to the 17-year-old becoming the Candidates champ.

Carlsen, who opted out of the classical format World Championship, has almost kick-started a chess storm in football and ice hockey-mad Norway. “It feels really good to play in Stavanger again. There are a lot of chess fans in Norway, most of them don’t get the chance to see me very often. So it feels very special whenever I play here,” Carlsen told the event organisers a day before the event started.

Praggnanandhaa is known to play adventurous chess and gained eyeballs at the Candidates for his wild risky style, even as he finished fifth. His mother has proudly accompanied him and sister Vaishali to the Norway Chess, and will remain a totem presence as the siblings go about their chess.

Another fascinating attraction of the event is the presence of 61-year-old Swedish GM Pia Cramling, even as Indian chess followers stay riveted to watch if Praggnanandhaa can pull the rug from under opponents’ feet and remind Norway of their own prodigy who has gone on to become a legend.

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