In less than three months, a pilot event born from the partnership between FIDE and Norway Chess, the Total Chess World Championship, will be played in Budapest. But with chess already having separate World Championships in Classical, Rapid, and Blitz, the point of this new brainchild is to determine who is the most complete player at present.

While the Total Chess World Championship will try to settle that question in a span of 10 days, the Grand Chess Tour has already done the job over a gruelling four-month, six-tournament gauntlet. Emerging from it is the Indian prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, who put the disappointment of São Paulo 2025 behind him, finished the unfinished business of becoming the first Indian to win the GCT.

Proving his mettle across all three formats in different conditions, Praggnanandhaa has now established himself as the bonafide ‘all-rounder’ of chess, a player one can bank on to deliver results in any conditions with his dynamic play.

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The 2026 GCT Finals were historic in every way. On one side stood Fabiano Caruana, looking to complete a never-before-seen three-peat of the GCT title. Facing him was Praggnanandhaa, aiming to become the first Indian to lift the prestigious trophy.

Praggnanandhaa poses with the 2026 GCT Finals trophy. (Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club)

When the organisers, the Saint Louis Chess Club, ran simulations to predict the winner, Caruana emerged as the clear favourite. After 15,000 tournament simulations, the computers gave the American a 54.9% chance compared to Praggnanandhaa’s 45.1%.

It wasn’t irrational. Caruana was the defending champion, the third-highest Elo-rated player in history, and had pedigree on his side. It was his backyard, his familiar conditions, and he only had to repeat what he had already done twice before.

The simulations skewed further when Caruana struck first in the opening Classical match, taking a big six-point lead. He carried that advantage into the Rapid segment after Praggnanandhaa failed to strike back in the second Classical match with reversed colours. It wasn’t that the Indian could not find weaknesses in Caruana’s defence, but playing the GCT finals means enduring the long, fatiguing journey of the tour, which is bound to take its toll.

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After squandering a big winning chance, Praggnanandhaa entered the Rapid segment trailing 3-9, with 16 points on offer across six shorter-format games.

The good part for Praggnanandhaa was that even Caruana was standing at a crossroads. Just one step away from the title but equally exhausted and prone to errors. This is where the Indian unleashed his inner beast, undoing everything Caruana had built in the Classical leg.

Weakness into strength

Praggnanandhaa turned his self-claimed weakness into strength, outplaying Caruana in the first Rapid game to cut the lead by four points in one go. He repeated the feat in the second Rapid game, and now the tables had turned completely. Caruana, who had led throughout the finals, was suddenly trailing by two points heading into the final Blitz segment.

Here, intuition takes over calculation. Gut feeling replaces the search for accuracy. In an area where Indians generally struggle, Praggnanandhaa thrived. He drew the first Blitz game, lost the second, and won the third, maintaining the quid pro quo.

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Praggnanandhaa poses with the 2026 GCT Finals trophy. (Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club)

Praggnanandhaa was far from his best, but Caruana was even farther. It all came down to the last five-minute match. A win for the Indian would seal the deal and a loss would force a tiebreak. The American never looked in control, and Praggnanandhaa forced a threefold repetition in a winning position to reign supreme.

There has never been an iota of doubt about Praggnanandhaa’s calibre in Classical chess, even with the disappointment of a middling 2026 Candidates performance. He offset that poor campaign in Cyprus by rocking the world at Norway Chess, where he became the first Indian to win the title.

Now, with the GCT win on his back, backed by a Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz victory, he has also attested to his shorter-format skills. Like every other major year, 2026 also demanded attention in Classical chess, especially being a year of the Candidates, the World Championship, and the Chess Olympiad. But there had to be a point where Praggnanandhaa needed to divert some time to his shorter-format chess.

The seeds were sown in Kolkata in January this year, when all he could manage was a mid-table finish in both the Rapid and Blitz categories of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess India. His trainer Vaibhav Suri says that event proved to be a key data point, and since then, the duo have been actively working, taking small steps to iron out any chinks in the armour.

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Progress card

• Praggnanandhaa did not play the 2026 GCT season opener, the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland.
• His first event of the tour was the Super Chess Classic Romania, where he won one, lost one, and drew seven matches to finish tied fifth with 4.5 points from 9 rounds.
• In the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia, he finished the Rapid segment joint top with Alireza Firouzja, but his Blitz performance pushed him down to overall tied third in Zagreb.
• He made his home stretch by winning both the Rapid and Blitz, gaining 13 tour points.
• In the Sinquefield Cup, he won the most matches (3), but a loss to Vincent Keymer meant he tied for first place with Wesley So. The American eventually took the title in tiebreaks.
• Praggnanandhaa finished the tour with the highest points (35.5), ahead of So, Caruana, and Keymer.