R Praggnanandhaa with his mother Nagalakshmi after the Chess World Cup.© Twitter
After a heroic final performance in the Chess World Cup summit clash, R Praggnanandhaa can rest assured that he will now be counted among the top chess stars in the world. Praggnanandhaa captured the imagination of a billion-plus people as he entered the final of the 2023 Chess World Cup. He fought valiantly till the end but ultimately lost to the great Magnus Carlsen in the final. Praggnanandhaa had drawn the first two classical games, but in the tie-breaker Carlsen was the more dominant player on Thursday in Baku, Azerbaijan.
However, Praggnanandhaa can keep his chin up as he beat higher-ranked opponents – world no. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and no. 3 Fabiano Caruana – to become the second Indian after the great Viswanathan Anand to enter the Chess World Cup final. By winning the silver medal, Praggnanandhaa also secured a ticket to the FIDE Candidates tournament.
After the final, Praggnanandhaa talked to NDTV, and said that now that the World Cup is over, he would like to have some South Indian food. “I like to have Indian food over the food that we have here. I am hoping to have South Indian food,” he said. “We have players like D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi. It’s time to get stronger. Gukesh has already gone into the top-10. We are also hoping to go into the top-10.”
Meanwhile, Praggnanandhaa’s dream run in the FIDE World Cup ended at the hands of world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, who beat him 1.5-0.5 in the tie-break on Thursday after the classical games ended in a stalemate. The second 25+10 tie-break game ended in a draw in 22 moves as the Norwegian legend played it safe after he had won the first, displaying his end-game skills.
It was Carlsen’s first World Cup triumph, having won the World Championship five times.
Carlsen overcame a stiff challenge from his 18-year-old Indian opponent in the first tie-break game, winning it in 45 moves. He overcame the problems he encountered due to Praggnanandhaa’s enterprising play to turn the tables and seize the advantage.
With PTI inputs
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