Chess Drona shares his delight as Aravindh, Pragg take Prague International by storm

Celebrated chess coach Ramesh R B shared four cheerful photos of his beloved disciples R Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram on social media. A naughty Pragg is climbing over his friends in a couple of pictures during training sessions. In another, Aravindh is carrying a happy young Pragg, who is six years his junior, while there is a fourth one with the youngster doing the heavy lifting.

"Been working with Aravindh since he was a 11 years old (now 25) and Pragg since he was a 8 years old (now 19). They are like brothers to each other," posted Ramesh, a recipient of the Dronacharya Award, India's biggest honour for sports coaches.

The timing of Ramesh's post couldn't have been better, as Aravindh and Pragg were playing some fine chess at the Prague International. Around the same time, the duo posted impressive wins in their third-round games against Wei Yi and Thai Dai Van Nguyen.

Aravindh, who stunned German superstar Vincent Keymer in the second round, was the sole leader after three rounds, on 2.5 points. Pragg, after his first win on the back of consecutive draws, was joint second alongside Keymer.

Praggnanandhaa recently clinched the prestigious Tata Steel Masters at Wijk aan Zee, defeating World Chess Champion D Gukesh. 

"Now both in top 20 in the world. What an exciting journey this has been! Gone through so much together. Happy to see them where they are. Hoping to see few of the other students join these two in the top 20 soon," Ramesh posted.