Ask the importance of just one healthy eye to those who suffer from visual impairment. Similarly, ask the value of one Candidates spot to those Indian chess followers who waited for 32 years to see the second Indian to reach there. Viswanathan Anand was the first in 1991. And now, we have at least two – R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi. And possibly a third in D Gukesh too. No Indian, except Anand, had come even close earlier.
Prag, a Chennai product from the stable of coach RB Ramesh, clinched the spot by reaching the World Cup final in Baku, Azerbaijan, in August. Gujrathi of Nashik, Maharashtra, followed it by winning the Isle of Man FIDE Grand swiss league event last month.
