Explained: The connection between Praggnanandhaa and a controversial clip involving Gukesh and Carlsen

Indian No 1 R Praggnanandhaa finds his name needlessly dragged into controversy over an incident he had nothing to do with. What’s more, the 20-year-old finds himself involved in a controversy involving his good friend, as well as fierce rival D Gukesh, and current world No 1 Magnus Carlsen.

The incident in question pertains to reigning world champion Gukesh’s stunning victory over Carlsen in the sixth round of Norway Chess in June. A little over six months after becoming the youngest world champion in chess history, Gukesh fulfilled another dream of his by defeating the Norwegian chess legend for the first time in his career.

Curly Tales, however, drew flak from the chess community after superimposing Praggnanandhaa’s face on Gukesh during the viral moment in which Carlsen angrily bangs his fist on the table after conceding defeat to the Indian Grandmaster in 62 moves.

GM Narayanan slams Curly Tales over doctored video

The food and travel content platform uploaded a video to their YouTube channel titled ‘Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa: Untold Story Of Childhood, Struggles & Success’. And among those objecting to the edited clip is Indian GM Srinath Narayanan, who was the coach of the Indian ‘Open’ team in last year’s Chess Olympiad in Budapest, where the Indian contingent had achieved a historic ‘golden sweep’.

“Seeing @CurlyTalesIndia replace @rpraggnachess’s face in place of @DGukesh feels disrespectful. I personally feel that it crosses a line. Within the Indian chess community, we stand united for each other’s achievements. I fear such misrepresentation only leaves a bad taste,” Narayanan said in response to the video.

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Gukesh had taken part in the prestigious tournament in Stavanger, Norway along with fellow Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi, and made a brilliant recovery after starting the tournament with back-to-back losses.

The 19-year-old even found himself in an ideal position to take the trophy off Carlsen’s hands at one point, on for the opportunity to slip out of his grasp following a defeat to world No 3 Fabiano Caruana in the final round.

The trio of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun had competed at the FIDE Grand Swiss in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand recently. While Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa’s campaigns fizzled out after a promising start, Arjun narrowly missed out on a top-two finish – which would have helped him qualify for next year’s Candidates Tournament.