Tag: Praggnanandhaa

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Praggnanandhaa Claims Candidates Seat Amidst WC Runner-Up Finish

In the World Cup final tie-breaker, Praggnanandhaa went down fighting to world No. 1 by rating and former world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway….reports Asian Lite News

Though Indian chess Grandmaster (GM) R. Praggnanandhaa finished runner-up in the strong FIDE World Cup held at Baku in Azerbaijan on Wednesday, the 18-year-old chess prodigy booked his seat in the Candidates Tournament to be held in Canada next year.

In the World Cup final tie-breaker, Praggnanandhaa went down fighting to world No. 1 by rating and former world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

Interestingly, for both the players, it was their maiden World Cup outing with one winning the Cup, and the other finishing second.

With this, Praggnanandhaa (ELO rating 2,707), ranked fourth in the world in the juniors’ category, became the first Indian player after former world champion GM Viswanathan Anand to qualify for the Candidates Tournament, the winner of which will challenge world champion Liren Ding of China.

“It was a very strong performance by Praggnanandhaa throughout the tournament. It was super impressive. He is a very humble and joyful guy who’s good to hang out with,” another young Indian GM, Arjun Erigaisi (19), who made it to the quarterfinals in Baku, told IANS.

Interestingly, Erigaisi, the world No. 5 in the juniors’ category, lost to Praggnanandhaa in the quarterfinal.

The two players used to go out for walks in the morning in Baku.

Not only for Praggnanandhaa, but also for other Indian chess players and lovers, the 2023 World Cup will remain a memorable one.

Enroute final, Praggnandhaa defeated world No. 2 and 3 — GM Hikaru Nakamura (2,787) and Fabiano Caruana (2,782) of the US — respectively.

Being the World Cup runner-up and entering the Candidates Tournament was the great double birthday present that Praggnanandhaa gave himself after celebrating the same on August 10 in Baku.

He got the IM title at the age of 10.

Incidentally, last August he had defeated Carlsen at the FTX Crypto Cup.

Praggnanandhaa’s achievement also ended the week filled with suspense and excitement for the Indians as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also successfully landed its moon lander on the lunar soil on Wednesday evening.

For Praggnanandhaa, it all started at his home watching his elder sister Woman GM R. Vaishali playing chess.

According to their mother R. Nagalakshmi, the two children breathe chess and nothing else and avoid other diversions. The siblings are also not interested in movies and television shows.

An Arjuna Awardee, Praggnanandhaa sports the sacred ash on his forehead and makes his first move after praying to the Almighty.

“He does not have any favourite Hindu deity. He just prays before making the first move,” Nagalakshmi said.

According to her, the two watch TV only while eating and they like home cooked food.

At home, the siblings play chess and also “discuss and dissect” other games.

Praggnanandhaa also plays table tennis, badminton and watches only nail-biting cricket match highlights.

“Praggnanandhaa’s style can be described as universal — neither aggressive nor defensive. But he makes the right moves at the right time,” GM R.B. Ramesh, who coaches the chess prodigy, had told IANS.

According to Ramesh, one of the striking features about Praggnanandhaa is that he is not emotional and takes things as they come.

Praggnanandhaa might win against a top player, but he would focus on performing well in the next round or tournament.

While the siblings decimate opponents, their parents juggle their work schedule to accompany their wards on domestic and international trips.

Nagalakshmi accompanies them a lot. But the issue crops up when the two have to play in different countries at the same time.

The accolades also come at a cost, as the family members have to skip several social functions.

ALSO READ: Praggnanandhaa’s FIDE World Cup Run Ends in Final Against Carlsen

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Praggnanandhaa’s FIDE World Cup Run Ends in Final Against Carlsen

World no.1 Carlsen played a fantastic endgame to take down Praggnanandhaa in the first 25+10 Rapid tiebreak game with the black pieces…reports Asian Lite News

The brilliant run by India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in the FIDE World Cup 2023 ended in the final on Thursday with the 18-year-old losing to World No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the two-game rapid tie-break series.

After holding the five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen to consecutive draws in the Classical games, the Grandmaster from Chennai, the youngest-ever to reach the FIDE World Cup final, lost the first rapid game under severe time pressure.

World no.1 Carlsen played a fantastic endgame to take down Praggnanandhaa in the first 25+10 Rapid tiebreak game with the black pieces. The 32-year-old Norwegian, used his tremendous experience to squeeze out a win from an equal position, slowly pushing the Indian to the brink with brisk and precise moves, forcing Pragg to spend more time and thus land into severe time pressure. Faced with an all-out attack and with seconds on his clock, Pragg resigned.

In a must-win situation with black pieces in the second game, Pragg had to win to level the scores and force further tiebreaks, However, Praggnanandhaa could only manage a draw and thus lost the two-game tie-break 1.5-0.5. 

Carlsen eventually won the final 2.5-1.5 to claim his maiden World Cup title. This was the only title missing from his cabinet. Carlsen finally won it in Baku, playing a good tactical game by conserving his energy by agreeing to quick draws in the two classical games and outwitting his young Indian opponent in rapid chess, a format in which the Norwegian is a four-time World Champion and thus fancies his chances.

Praggnanandhaa thus ended up as the runner-up of the 2023 FIDE World Cup — his best result in an official FIDE event at the senior level.

The 18-year-old Indian prodigy had an impressive tournament, gaining a lot of rating points and is expected to move up nine places to 20 when the FIDE Rating list is updated on September 1.

On his way to the final, Praggnanandhaa defeated, among others, world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura and No.3 Fabiano Caruana, both Americans. By winning the silver medal in the World Cup, Praggnanandhaa also secured a berth in the FIDE Candidates Tournament, the winner of which will take on reigning World Champion Ding Liren in the World Championship Match in 2024.

Fabiano Caruana of the United States scored a convincing victory with black over Nijat Abasov in their first tiebreak game and went on to clinch third place. Caruana thus also secured a ticket to the FIDE Candidates tournament next year.

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Praggnanandhaa sets up Chess World Cup final clash with Carlsen  

For Praggnanandhaa, giant slaying is not new in this tournament. He had earlier defeated far more higher-rated players, including US GM Hikaru Nakamura, world No. 2 by rating…reports Asian Lite News

India’s 18-year old Grandmaster (GM) R. Praggnanandhaa (ELO 2,707) on Monday entered the FIDE World Cup final after defeating world No. 3 by rating, American GM Fabiano Caruana (2,782), in the semifinal tie-break games played at Baku, Azerbaijan.

The final score stood at 3.5-2.5 in favour of the Chennai youngster. After drawing the first two tie-break games, the Indian slayed Caruana in the third game and drew the next one.

The match went into tie-breaker after the players drew their two classical games earlier. In the tie-breaker, the first two games had ended in draw. The young Indian then won the third game.

Praggnanandhaa will now cross swords with world No. 1 and former world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the final.

Having already defeated world No. 2 and world No. 3 in the tournament, will Praggnanandhaa be able to defeat the world No.1 is the question doing the rounds in chess circles now.

With this win, Praggnanandhaa also qualified to play in the Candidates Tournament, the winner of which will be the challenger to Chinese GM Liren Ding, the reigning world champion.

As per the International Chess Federation or FIDE’s rules, the top three players in the World Cup qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

For Praggnanandhaa, giant slaying is not new in this tournament. He had earlier defeated far more higher-rated players, including US GM Hikaru Nakamura, world No. 2 by rating.

India has never performed so well in the World Cup Open Category, though former world champion GM Viswanathan Anand had won the tournament earlier when it was held under a different format.

At Baku this time around, four Indian GMs — Praggnanandhaa, D. Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi — made it to the quarterfinals in a field of over 250 players.

Apart from Praggnanandhaa, there was one more giant slayer from the Indian side. And that was Gujrathi who had humbled world No. 5 GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2779) of Russia.

All is not lost for the other three Indian players — Gujrathi, Gukesh and Erigaisi — to take a shot at the world champion’s title.

“There are a couple of other tournaments the Indian players can play and get qualified for the Candidates Tournament. The other three players reached the quarterfinals in this strong tournament. Hence, they can still qualify for the Candidates.

“That said, the Indian government and the All India Chess Federation (AICF) should provide all kinds of assistance to the youngsters to become the world champion,” International Arbiter and chess coach R.R. Vasudevan said.

Kasparov hails Indian prodigy

Former World Chess Champion and Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has congratulated Indian grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa who stormed into the final of the FIDE World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Praggnanandhaa defeated World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana to reach the final of the FIDE World Cup, and his mother was also present at the event to witness her son’s triumph.

Kasparov called his mother’s support “a special kind of support” and extended wishes to the Indian Grand Master for his exceptional performance. 

“Congrats to @rpragchess —and to his mother. As someone whose proud mama accompanied me to every event, it’s a special kind of support! The Chennai Indian defeated two New York cowboys! He has been very tenacious in difficult positions,” Kasparov wrote in his tweet.

The Indian chess prodigy managed to beat the American player 3.5-2.5 after tiebreaks. He will face World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen for the title clash.

Earlier, Praggnanandhaa beat compatriot Arjun Erigaisi 5-4 in a sudden death tie-break to book a place for himself in the semifinals on Thursday. The 17-year-old Praggnanandhaa has already secured a spot in next year’s Candidates event.

Praggnanandhaa created history by advancing to the final of the FIDE World Cup, his coach RB Ramesh expressed his immense pride in Praggnanandhaa’s exceptional performance in the global tournament and said that he is optimistic about Prags chances in view of the openings strategies discussed.

“I am extremely proud that he has been doing phenomenally well in this World Cup and he qualified for the World Cup final. And what I hear is he is the youngest to do so. And also he is the only Indian to qualify for the final,” coach Ramesh told ANI.

The final matches of the FIDE World Cup will begin on Tuesday. (ANI)

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Praggnanandhaa beats world chess champion Magnus Carlsen

The win in the third rapid game meant that Carlsen took his total to 16 points, and thus emerged the champion, winning the FTX Crypto Cup for the second year in a row…reports Asian Lite News

India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa came back strongly from a game deficit to stun world champion Magnus Carlsen in tiebreaks in the seventh and final round thus finishing runner-up in the FTX Crypto Cup, the second major on the Champions Chess Tour.

Starting the round two points behind the Norwegian Carlsen, the 17-year-old Pragg was looking down and out after losing the third of the four rapid games. But Carlsen, who was steering the fourth game to a draw, blundered in the endgame and the Indian capitalised on it to take the match into blitz tiebreaks.

In the four rapid games, Praggnanandhaa created a number of chances in the drawn first game, defended superbly in the second — another draw –, went down in a tense third encounter before capitalising on Carlsen’s mistake to win the fourth.

He dominated the blitz games to win two points, taking his total to 15. Iranian-French teenager Alireza Firouzja claimed three points in the final round to tie with Pragg at 15 points but eventually had to be satisfied with the third place.

The win in the third rapid game meant that Carlsen took his total to 16 points, and thus emerged the champion, winning the FTX Crypto Cup for the second year in a row.

Carlsen notched up a third win of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour season and his first Major win. The result also stretches his lead at the top of the USD1.6 million Tour leaderboard and wins him the tournament’s unique NFT trophy.

Pragg and Carlsen were neck-and-neck throughout the whole tournament with the youngster putting in a real statement performance throughout.

But in Round 7 of the all-play-all event, Pragg faced the real acid test — world No. 1 Carlsen. The youngster had chances in the first game and then had to defend like a lion in game 2. Finally, he ran out of steam in the third.

Carlsen clinched the win that guaranteed him the title and in classic Magnus-style — with a piece of endgame brilliance and a huge sense of relief, according to a release on Sunday by the organisers of the event, Play Magnus Group.

Reacting before the final rapid game, Carlsen said, “This game was very nervy, I think, for both of us. Today I haven’t been able to find a rhythm at all, but hopefully I can relax a bit in the last game.”

Carlsen did relax — but it barely mattered to him. In the fourth game, the champion looked to be steering the game to a draw but blundered in the endgame.

“I think Magnus just wanted to have more fun!” Pragg, who still had work to do to finish second, was quoted as saying in the release.

In the final tiebreak, Pragg won the first and then ended it in a dramatic second game in which Carlsen blundered badly. Pragg ended the tournament on a high, securing the runner-up spot.

Carlsen hailed his tournament win a “great result”.

The USD210,000 elite esports tournament, held at Florida’s Eden Roc Miami Beach, had gone into its final day with all eyes on Carlsen and Pragg’s eagerly-awaited showdown.

But in the other matches, Alireza Firouzja was battling to overtake Pragg at the last hurdle and secured at least a third place finish with a 2.5-1.5 win over Levon Aronian.

The struggles continued for 19-year-old New Yorker Hans Niemann, who has entertained everyone throughout with his interviews. Niemann finished pointless as he went down 2.5-1.5 to Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le.

However, the newly-crowned “bad boy of chess” can take away from the tournament memorable wins over Carlsen, Pragg and Aronian, plus an army of new fans.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the winner of the Oslo Esports Cup, finished off his tournament with a 2.5-0.5 win over Dutch No.1 Anish Giri.

Duda had a tough start to the event but finished with impressive wins over Carlsen, Pragg and then Giri.

The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour will return with its next “regular” event on September 19.

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Praggnanandhaa stuns Firouzja at Champions Chess Tour

In the third game, Pragg looked lost but, incredibly, managed to turn things around and score an improbable second win to go 2-1 up…reports Asian Lite News

Indian prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa came back strongly from a disadvantageous position to beat World’s No. 1 junior player, Alireza Firouzja, in the third encounter of their four-game match as the FTX Crypto Cup, the American finale of Champions Chess Tour, which got off to a thrilling start here.

The 2.5-1.5 win in the first-round encounter on Sunday night in Miami, the first offline event of the tour, put Praggnanandhaa in the top spot along with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland and Kevin Aronian in the eight-player all-play-all field.

With USD7,500 at stake for each match win at the Eden Roc Miami Beach Hotel, the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Major started with plenty of fire and fighting chess.

Carlsen defeated Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri. Duda got the better of Hans Niemann of the United States while Aronian beat Liem Quang Le of Vietnam. Each match will be played over four rapid games, with blitz tiebreaks in case of a 2:2 draw.

Praggnanandhaa, India’s 17-year-old hotshot, got off to the best start possible in the battle of the prodigies, sealing a first-game win by taking advantage of a tiny mistake from Alireza Firouzja.

Pragg followed up Firouzja’s pawn push (21… c5) by taking it (22. cxd5) and then made a fine rook move (23. Rac1) to set up tactics in his favour. The Indian Grandmaster from Chennai capatilised on the small tactical advantage to duly convert it into a win.

Firouzja, the French Iranian prodigy, however, is not known as the world’s best junior for nothing. Immediately, he hit back in the second game to level the score before building up a strong advantage in the third.

In the third game, Pragg looked lost but, incredibly, managed to turn things around and score an improbable second win to go 2-1 up.

In the fourth and final game of the tie, Pragg closed out the draw he needed to take the 3 points and continue his incredible form in Meltwater Champions Chess Tour events. He had finished second to China’s Ding Liren in the first event of the hybrid series in which players are playing on their personal laptops to maintain continuity.

Meanwhile, World Champion Carlsen put on a masterclass to secure a first-round win against Anish Giri. Norway’s world champion went up the gears as he ended the round with two dominant wins to blow Giri away 3-1. It was an ominous sign for the rest of the field, Play Magnus Group, the organisers of the Champions Chess Tour, informed in a release on Monday.

Giri, the Dutch No.1, did have a strong position in game 2 but was left ruing his decision to bail out for a draw without taking advantage and really going for a win.

Carlsen said afterwards, “It was a lot of fun, we played really, really fighting games. Finally, I managed to break him in the third.”

Carlsen now marches into Round 2 against the American Hans Niemann who had drama-packed day which ended with him losing 3-0.

Niemann suffered a disastrous start against Poland’s Oslo Esports Cup winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda — and not of his own making.

The New Yorker’s laptop ran out of power and had to be restarted, allowing his opponent five minutes to find the best moves.

In the last match to finish, Aronian took an early lead against Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le and then held on for three draws to take the match win, USD7,500 and three points.

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