Mumbai: In a nearly decade-long career as a player, Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa has never witnessed a stampede-like situation at a chess venue.

As a teenager, the 20-year-old World No. 7 has attended numerous chess events with former and current stars. But what he experienced on Friday at the District Sports Club near Dharavi in Mumbai was a unique experience for him.

Pragg was in Mumbai to attend the one-day Dharavi Chess Championship 2025, organised by the Navbharat Mega Developers and Adani Group, for school children from Dharavi, which is transforming through a development project.

The 20-year-old from Chennai was mobbed by the 450-odd students from 30 schools from Dharavi and the nearby Sion Koliwada area, and the organisers had to call in security enforcements to rescue Pragg,

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