India, Aug. 29 -- It was a little after 3am on Friday in India, and a relieved, sleep-deprived Vaibhav Suri was shooting off delirious texts in all caps. The recipient of his uppercase excitement, Praggnanandhaa, had just become the first Indian to win the Grand Chess Tour title.

The 21-year-old grandmaster did it in thrilling fashion.

When Pragg walked into the final day of the Grand Chess Tour Finals, he had a mountain to climb. He was six points behind Fabiano Caruana, one of the strongest players in the world, with the title seemingly slipping away.

But somewhere in that deficit was a version of Pragg that his team had been trying to build for the past two years - more ambitious, more resilient and, crucially, less willing to give ...