Prasanna Raghuram Rao: The Speed Enthusiast Who Became an IM
Prasanna Raghuram Rao, known online as Praschess, is a FIDE International Master who seems allergic to slow, quiet chess. Although bullet is his preferred time control, his online resume is built on marathon blitz sessions, thousands of decisive games, and one spectacular December 2024 in which his blitz rating touched 2823 (2024-12-22). That kind of number is normally reserved for grandmasters, but Prasanna reached it while playing at a pace most humans use to order coffee.
Marathon Man of the 64 Squares
Since 2018, Prasanna's blitz rating has traveled from the 1400s to the rarefied 2800s, with a few detours through the danger zone along the way. His record shows more than 4,100 blitz games, including 1,971 wins and a peak of 2823 (2024-12-22). In December 2024 alone he played 260 blitz games and won 125 of them. That is not a hobby, that is a lifestyle.
His longest winning streak is 13, and his longest losing streak is 9, which means he is equally capable of looking like a world champion or a pawn sacrifice gone wrong. He has a comeback rate near 85%, and he still wins 46% of his games after losing a piece. The game is never over while his clock is running.
Opening Repertoire: Uncommon but Dangerous
Prasanna is not a one opening pony. His early years featured plenty of 1.e4 and 1.d4, but regulars now expect 1.Nf3, 2.g3, and a well timed King's Indian Attack. When he wants to get weird, he reaches for the Amar Gambit, an offbeat line that has earned him a 73.5% win rate in bullet and a 58.3% win rate in blitz.
Against 1.e4 he is comfortable in the Caro-Kann Defense, while as White he also enjoys the Nimzo-Larsen Attack and the English Opening. His opening chart shows how heavily he has leaned on a few ferocious systems over the years.
A typical Praschess setup looks something like this:
. Solid, flexible, and just unusual enough to make opponents think twice.Rivalries, Habits, and the 10 AM Warning
No profile of Prasanna would be complete without mentioning his longtime rival Robert L. Hess. They have faced each other 19 times in blitz, and while Prasanna has only five wins in that series, he has made gmhess sweat for every point. He also owns a dominant record against serverbusy, with 10 wins in 11 meetings.
If you value your rating, do not queue up against Prasanna at 10 in the morning. His win rate at that hour is a terrifying 87.5%, and his win rate at 9 AM is 64%. Late at night he is also dangerous, winning nearly 58% of his games from 10 PM onward.
His psychological profile is just as colorful. He tilts from time to time, but he rarely gets blown off the board, with a one-sided loss rate of just 1.33%. He is an endgame addict who plays more than 81% of his games into the endgame, and he averages over 75 moves in his wins. Bring a snack.