The 16-year-old Indian Grandmaster took advantage of the Norwegian world champion’s mistake to win the online quick event.
In modern chess, defeating five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen is the pinnacle that his competitors are always aiming to reach. R Praggnanandhaa did it in the early hours of Monday, becoming only the third Indian to defeat the world No. 1 after Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna.
In the eighth round of the Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament, Praggnanandhaa won with black pieces after the Norwegian quit after 39 moves. He is the youngest player to beat Carlsen since the latter won the world title for the first time in 2013.
On Sunday, Praggnanandhaa overcame Levon Aronian, making up for a shaky start on Saturday, when he lost three of his four games. Carlsen, Aronian, and numerous more top-10 players, including Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniatchi, Anish Giri, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, are among the event’s participants. It’s a round robin tournament that leads to the semi-finals.
The precocious potential of the Indian chess player has been on display for some time. At the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days, the youngster from Chennai became the world’s second youngest Grandmaster (GM). Since then, he has slid to fifth place on the list.
The victory over Carlsen is his most significant yet his coach, RB Ramesh, also a GM remarked that beating Carlsen in standard time control will be more creditworthy compared to the rapid format. The time control for this event is 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move for each player. Praggu was playing Carlsen for the third time in a tournament. At the Tata Steel event in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, he lost to the reigning world champion, although their other meeting was a draw.
On Monday, he took advantage of Carlsen’s error in the 32nd move. “When Carlsen played Knight C3, he committed a mistake.” It was difficult to get back on track after that. “Praggu handled it like a pro,” Ramesh said.
Praggnanandhaa’s victory is a significant step forward in his development as a chess player. He finished a creditable 12th at the Tata Steel event in January, overcoming a few off-the-board challenges. The largest issue was Ramesh’s absence from the event, which occurred after the coach tested positive for Covid shortly after arriving in the Netherlands.
Praggnanandhaa still has a tough fight ahead of him, with only the top eight going to the knockouts. After eight rounds, he is tied for 12th place with eight points. The quarter-finals will take place on February 23 (Wednesday), followed by the semi-finals and final on February 24 and 26.
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