India's R Praggnanandhaa does it again, defeats World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen

Indian Grand Master Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu defeated world champion, Magnus Carlsen, for the second time in three months on Friday. Praggnanandhaa beat Carlsen in the 5th round of the Chessable Masters online rapid chess competition, keeping his playoff hope alive. The match between Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen was headed towards a draw when the latter committed a huge mistake that cost him the match. Praggnanandhaa is only the third Indian after Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna to beat Carlsen in a chess game. 

The match was being closely fought between Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen when the latter made a mistake in his 40th move to lose the game. Carlsen misplayed his knight, a blunder that was quickly noticed by Praggnanandhaa, who wasted no time in declaring a check. After the match, Praggnanandhaa revealed that he was taking exams during the event. The 16-year-old further stated that he was not happy with his game quality and that he needs to be sharper. 

"I’m not so thrilled about my game quality. I’m missing some stuff, some tricks, and some tactics so I need to be sharper," Praggnanandhaa said in his interview with Chess24.

Praggnanandhaa, youngest player to beat Carlsen

Earlier, Praggnanandhaa had defeated Carlsen at the Airthings Masters in February this year. Praggnanandhaa beat Carlsen in the 8th round of the Airthings Masters, which is another online chess competition. With the win, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest player to defeat Carlsen in a chess game since he was crowned the world champion in 2013. Back in January 2022, the young Indian Grandmaster won games against Andrey Esipenko, Vidit Gujrathi, and Nils Grandelius and finished 12th with a final score of 5.5 points in the Masters' section of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022.

Praggnanandhaa, a chess prodigy from Tamil Nadu, earned the coveted Grandmaster title in 2018. He was the second-youngest person ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster at the time but is currently fifth on the list after being dethroned by Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D, and Javokhir Sindarov. Earlier he also had won the World Youth Chess Championships U-8 title in 2013, which earned him the title of FIDE Master at the age of 7. 

Image: PTI/AP