Sachin Tendulkar lauds 'magical' Praggnanandhaa; 'All of 16, beaten the decorated Carlsen'

Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar took to his official Twitter handle on Monday to share his thoughts on 16-year-old Indian Grand Master Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa’s stunning win against World No. 1 Chess player Magnus Carsen. The 16-year-old  defeated Carlsen in the eighth round of the ongoing Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament on Monday. World champion Carlsen amazingly lost to Pragganandhaa with black pieces in 39 moves in a Tarrasch variation game.

Meanwhile, lauding the youngster, Tendulkar wrote, “What a wonderful feeling it must be for Pragg. All of 16, and to have beaten the experienced & decorated Magnus Carlsen, and that too while playing black, is magical! “. The cricket legend concluded his tweet by saying , “Best wishes on a long & successful chess career ahead. You’ve made India proud!”.

16-year-old Indian Grandmaster's chess career-

Pragganandhaa is the fifth youngest to become a Grandmaster after Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D, and Javokhir Sindarov. He first shot to fame after winning the World Youth Chess Championships Under-8 title in 2013, which earned him the FIDE Master title at the age of seven years old.  Following his  U-10 title win in 2015, Praggnanandhaa went to become the youngest international master in 2016 at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days old. He became the then second-youngest person ever to achieve the rank of grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days after defeating Luca Moroni in the eighth round of the Gredine Open in Urtijei in 2018.