Chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa thanks Anand Mahindra for gifting electric car to his parents

Anand Mahindra gifted a Mahindra XUV 400 to Praggnanandhaa's parents. (Image: @rpraggnachess/X)

Chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, on Tuesday, thanked Anand Mahindra for gifting an electric car to his parents. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a post featuring his family surrounding the brand new Mahindra XUV 400. Last year, the Mahindra Group Chairman shared a post in which he wrote about encouraging parents to introduce their children to a “cerebral game” like chess.

Praggnanandhaa, who is the youngest player to reach a Chess World Cup final, thanked Mahindra for the precious gift. “Received XUV 400. My parents are very happy. Thank you very much Anand Mahindra, sir,” he wrote.

Received XUV 400 , My Parents are very happy Thank you very much @anandmahindra sirhttps://t.co/5ZmogCLGF4pic.twitter.com/zmwMP2Ltza

— Praggnanandhaa (@rpraggnachess) March 12, 2024

Earlier, while replying to a user’s request of gifting Praggnanandhaa a Mahindra Thar, the billionaire industrialistencouraged parents to introduce their children to chess and support them as they pursue the cerebral game, despite the surge in the popularity of video games.

“It's an investment in a better future for our planet, just like EVs. And so, I think we should gift an XUV4OO EV to the parents of Praggnanandhaa - Shrimati Nagalakshmi and Shri Rameshbabu, who deserve our gratitude for nurturing their son's passion and for giving him their untiring support,” he had written in a post shared in August last year.

Appreciate your sentiment, Krishlay, & many, like you, have been urging me to gift a Thar to @rpragchess But I have another idea … I would like to encourage parents to introduce their children to Chess & support them as they pursue this cerebral game (despite the surge in… https://t.co/oYeDeRNhyhpic.twitter.com/IlFIcqJIjm — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) August 28, 2023

Meanwhile, R Praggnanandhaa scripted history as he became the No.1 ranked Indian player for the first time after defeating reigning world champion Ding Liren in January. the 18-year-old jumped past Vishwanathan Anand in the live classical chess rankings.