R Praggnanandhaa stuns World No. 1 junior player Alireza Firouzja at Champions Tour

Indian chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa stunned world number one junior player Alireza Firouzja on Tuesday by defeating him at the Champions Tour. Following the success, the 17-year-old took to his official social media account to celebrate by posting the score of his game against Firouzja.

R Praggnanandhaa stuns Alireza Firouzja

Taking to his official Twitter account on August 16, R Praggnanandhaa celebrated his success over world number four Alireza Firouzja by stating that he had a good start against the Iranian French Grandmaster with a score of 2.5-1.5. What made the 17-year-old's win even more incredible is that he fought back brilliantly from a disadvantageous position to beat the top-rated junior player in the third round of their four-game match.

As a result of the win, Praggnanandhaa is now tied at the top alongside world number one Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Kevin Aronian. As for other results, Carlsen beat Anish Giri, Duda defeated Hans Niemann, while Aronian picked up a win over Liem Quang Le. As for the Champions Chess Tour format, each player will play four rapid games and there will be blitz tiebreaks if the score is tied at 2-2.

While Praggnanandhaa is in terrific form at the Champions Chess Tour, it is pertinent to note that the 17-year-old also holds two huge victories over five-time world champion Carlsen. The Chennai-born chess prodigy is only one of the three Indians alongside Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna to pick up a win over Carlsen.

Praggnanandhaa won bronze at Chess Olympiad

R Praggnanandhaa was also a crucial part of the India 'B' team at the recently concluded 44th Chess Olympiad that went on to win a historic bronze medal. The India 'B' team finished in third place to clinch the country's second bronze medal in the Olympiad. Previously, an Indian team had also won a bronze in the 2014 edition.

B Adhiban, who was also a part of the 2014 team, won his second bronze medal. Meanwhile, it was the first for his four young teammates. The India 'B' team comprised three 16-year-olds in D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Raunak Sadhwani, with 18-year-old Nihal Sarin completing the team.