Dubai: World chess champion D Gukesh and fellow Indian grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa traded the chessboard for a cinema outing as the two friends watched Rajinikanth’s ‘Jailer 2’ together.
Gukesh shared a series of photographs from the outing on Instagram, giving fans a glimpse of their movie plans and their admiration for the Tamil superstar.
The first picture featured Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and musician Lydian Nadhaswaram in a selfie. Gukesh captioned it “Thalaivar Gang”, referring to Rajinikanth, who is popularly known as Thalaivar by his fans.
In the second photograph, Gukesh shared an image of Rajinikanth on the theatre screen with the caption, “75 but goosebumps 100”, celebrating the 75-year-old actor’s enduring screen presence.
The third picture provided the biggest talking point. With four seats together unavailable, the two grandmasters decided to share one seat for the entire film. Gukesh posted a selfie of the pair with the caption: “Didnt get 4 seats together… so share a seat for the whole movie. Couple goals?”
He rounded off the post with a photograph of himself posing in sunglasses.
The outing offered a glimpse of the friendship between two of India’s leading chess talents. Both have represented the country at the highest level, with Gukesh becoming the youngest undisputed world chess champion in 2024 and Praggnanandhaa establishing himself among the world’s elite players.
Meanwhile, Jailer 2, the sequel to Rajinikanth’s hit action film, has attracted strong box-office attention, adding to the excitement surrounding the superstar’s latest big-screen outing.