Nakamura expresses concern over Praggnanandhaa after Norway Chess triumph: 'I feel like if he played a little...'

American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has expressed concern over R Praggnanandhaa playing "too much chess", stating that the Indian Grandmaster could "burn himself out" with his packed schedule. Nakamura's comment days after Praggnanandhaa made history at this year's Norway Chess, clinching victory on the final day with four consecutive Classical wins and becoming the first Indian to win the prestigious tournament.

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"Pragg winning Norway Chess comes as no surprise to me. Pragg is a very, very good player, very talented player. His rating at like 2730 is kind of absurd. As far as Pragg goes, my concern is that Pragg is just playing too much chess," world No 2 Nakamura was quoted by Endgame AI as saying.

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"I feel like with Pragg, he's a very, very good player, but he plays too much chess and he burns himself out. I feel like if he played a little bit less that would be a good thing. Otherwise it's going to be very up and down, like you have good result, bad result, and I think it's very, very choppy," he added.

Pragg's jam-packed schedule since March

Praggnanandhaa had recently taken part at the Fide Candidates (29 March to 18 April), considered the most gruelling tournament in chess, in April, finishing seventh out of eight competitors after an underwhelming run.

The 20-year-old would then return to action at the Super Chess Classic (14 to 24 May) in Bucharest, Romania, the second event of this year's Grand Chess Tour, where he finished ninth out of 10 participants after entering as the defending champion.

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Praggnanandhaa was going through a lean patch during this time, much like world champion and fellow Indian GM D Gukesh, and found himself languishing at the bottom of the six-player standings at the Norway Chess (25 May to 5 June).

In a display of remarkable grit and skill, Pragg clawed his way back from the bottom of the standings by winning each of the remaining Classical games, which included a second consecutive victory over world No 1 and defending champion Magnus Carlsen.