A study in contrast: Motherly love vs fatherly bond, simplicity vs tinkerman

Praggnanandhaa falls in final hurdle as Carlsen wins World Cup

- SANDIP G

AFTER THREE DAYS of intense chess across two formats, Magnus Carlsen finally managed to win the FIDE World Cup for the first time in his career on Thursday. He defeated India's R Praggnanandhaa in the final, but not before the 18-year-old teenage prodigy had dragged him through the tie-breaker. In days to come, every time the two chess stars meet, there will be a buzz around those games. The 2023 World Cup could have started a rivalry between two players whose backgrounds could not have been more distinct.

Let's first start with the boy from Chennai. Every time Praggnanandhaa exits the chess hall, his eyes wander for his mother Nagalakshmi, usually slunk into an anonymous corner of the corridor, fidgeting nervously on the loose strands of her saree's pallu. Spotting her, his strides gather pace and he hugs her, whether he has lost or not. His eyes stifle the welling-up tears, her's shine with love. She doesn't want to know the game's result, she doesn't query about a move gone astray, or she doesn't congratulate him on maneuvering past a difficult situation.

All she knows is that she wants to be by her son, just as he wants her to be too. For almost a decade, from the time he was a shy, scrawny child to a bristling teenager on the cusp of youth, she has travelled with him for most of the tournaments, watching his son walk block-by-block to sporting greatness, with the joyfully pounding heart of a proud mother, and keeping him warm with his favourite sambar and tomato rice in his hotel room and her unconditional love. "She is the backbone of my success," Praggnanandhaa has once told this newspaper.