'My parents are very happy': R Praggnanandhaa receives XUV 400 EV from Anand Mahindra, thanks him

India's youngest chess grandmaster, R Praggnanandhaa, on Tuesday thanked industrialist Anand Mahindra for gifting him an electric car. The gift followed Mahindra's earlier tweet where he asked parents to encourage children to play chess.

Praggnanandhaa's win over Ding Liren on January 16 was lauded as a  significant achievement in the world of chess, and it made him a rising star in the sport.

"Received XUV 400. My parents are very happy. Thank you very much Anand Mahindra, sir", Praggnanandhaa wrote in his post.

On August 2023 in a post on X, Anand Mahindra had said that he would like to encourage parents to introduce their children to chess and support them as they pursue this cerebral game.

"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," the post read.

R Praggnanandhaa's post garnered over 55k views, with many expressing their thoughts in the comments section of the post.

"That's awesome! Congrats to your parents on the new XUV 400! Sir surely knows how to spread happiness," a social media user said.

Praggnanandhaa is the highest-ranked Indian classical chess player. He overtook Viswanathan Anand to the top spot. He defeated reigning world champion Ding Liren at the age of 18.

R Praggnanandhaa lost to World No 1 Magnus Carlsen at the Chess World Cup final in August 2023.