Can Aravindh Chithambaram, a pawn-lover, become a valuable chess king?

It was appropriate for Indian chess that Aravindh's triumph coincided with 18-year-old Pranav Venkatesh's victory as the World Junior Champion.Think of Aravindh Chithambaram in a game like chess, where young geniuses appear every week. At a time when other grandmasters his age are likely looking for their second wind, the 25-year-old is enjoying the first true gust of tail wind of his career.

The Chennai-born player has won two major tournaments in a thrilling few months: the Prague Masters championship last week and the Chennai Grandmasters event late last year. The Prague tournament featured players like Praggnanandhaa, Wei Yi, Anish Giri, and Vincent Keymer, while the Chennai field was crowded with players like Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Arjun Erigaisi.Aravindh's talent has always been evident to those who know him well. In 2013, when Aravindh was just 14 years old, he made some bold predictions in a conversation with the famous Susan Polgar, a fact that his longtime coach, RB Ramesh, loves to bring out. So large that Polgar himself sounded uncertain. Even though the 14-year-old had not yet earned a single International Master norm, Ramesh had attempted to convince her that he was capable of becoming a grandmaster in just six months.