(Image source from: The Hindu)

Vuppala Prraneeth, a Telangana boy is now World No. 1 in chess in the under-11 category and his coach N.V.S. Ramaraju was as well credited with training chess Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika.

For someone known to be 'very good' in opening and middle-games, Prraneeth came under Mr. Ramaraju's wing three years ago. "There is no doubt that he is a potential champion from the State in the days to come," says the proud coach, who runs Race Chess Academy in the city.

Prraneeth, whose parents hail from Nalgonda, was felicitated by the Sports Authority of Telangana State chairman A. Venkateshwar Reddy last week and has a creditable ELO2281.

The chairman of sports authority assured absolute assist to the chess wizard in his chase for excellence at higher levels and hoped he would become a Grandmaster soon, given his consistency in hard-bitten events.

For the record, Prraneeth bagged bronze in the South Asian championship and set a record of sorts scoring ELO22 points in the 14th Parshwanath International championship in Delhi.

"There is obviously a lot of scope for improvement and the best part is that he is very young, sincere and puts in hours of hard work," says Ramaraju.

This Class 7 student of David Memorial High School is now aiming for bigger things, including World championship titles in his age group as he embarks on what he feels will be a demanding journey.

"I am aware that I have to widen my opening game repertoire and also improve upon my end-game. But with Ramaraju sir taking care of every aspect of my game, I am confident of achieving bigger things," says Prraneeth.

By Sowmya Sangam