Young Indian Praggnanandhaa to Beat Magnus Carlsen in Airthings Masters Chess

In the eighth round of the Airthings Masters, an online chess tournament, Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa stunned World No. 1, Magnus Carlsen in Airthing Masters Chess Tournament

In a 39 move Tarrasch variation game on Monday, Praggnanandhaa ended Carlsen’s three-game winning streak with black pieces.

Following eight rounds, the Indian GM is tied for 12th place with eight points. In the earlier rounds, he had won a single game over Lev Aronian, drawn two games, and lost four games.

How did Praggnanandhaa defeat World Champion Magnus Carlsen?

In the eighth round of the online rapid chess tournament, the young GM used a Tarrasch variation to win in 39 moves with black. The time control was 15+10. By becoming the third Indian to defeat Magnus Carsen in a tournament, Pragganandhaa joined the elite list of Indian chess players that also includes legend Vishwanathan Anand and P Harikrishna.

On Monday, Praggnanandhaa beat the World No. 1 after an average performance on Saturday. After starting with a draw, he lost three straight games to end the first day of the tournament. Carlsen lost two rounds to Russians Andrey Esipenko and Ian Nepomniachtchi to drop to 11th ahead of his match against the Indian teenager. Pragganandhaa will be looking to continue his winning momentum in the remaining rounds of the preliminary stage.

R Pragganandhaa’s journey in chess

Pragganandhaa is the fifth youngest Grandmaster, following in the footsteps of Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D, and Javokhir Sindarov. In 2013, he won the World Youth Chess Championships Under-8 title, which earned him the FIDE Master title at the age of seven.

Praggnanandhaa became the youngest international master at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days in 2016 after winning the U-10 title in 2015. After defeating Luca Moroni in the eighth round of the Grenadine Open in Urtijei in 2018, he became the second-youngest person to achieve the rank of grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days.

Also Check:

Antoine Griezmann Could Make A Sensational Return To Barcelona, Report