After Game 1 and Game 2 of the final match ended in a draw, the Chess World Cup final will be decided through a tie-breaker on Friday between Indian chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and world number one Magnus Carlsen. In the first game on Tuesday, 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa, playing with white pieces, gave a tough fight to 32-year-old Carlsen and both players shook hands after 35 moves. On the other hand, a similar conclusion was seen in Game 2 as both players agreed on a draw after only 30 moves.
Both Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen are facing off for the first time at the Chess World Cup. Praggnanandhaa is the youngest ever finalist at the age of 18, while 32-year-old Carlsen is also chasing his first title at this level.
If Praggnanandhaa becomes the winner of the final, he will get around Rs 90,93,551 ($110k), while the runner-up will get around Rs 66,13,444 ($80). The total prize pool of the tournament is around Rs 1,51,392,240.
Carlsen drew the first game of classical chess with Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa after 35 moves. The second game also ended in a tie, so today, i.e. Thursday, two games of rapid chess will be played to decide the winner of this year’s Chess World Cup Final.
To make R Praggnanandhaa a chess champion, his parents kept him away from TV and today at the age of 18, Praggnanandhaa is on his way to becoming the new king of this game of 64 squares.
In this game of chess, 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa is being considered as the successor of five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand and he has proved it right by performing brilliantly in the ongoing FIDE World Cup in Baku.
After Anand, Praggnanandhaa is the second Indian player to make it to the Candidates Tournament. After two games being tied, Praggnanandhaa’s fate will be decided by a tiebreaker game on Friday.
Praggnanandhaa started playing chess at the age of four and a half years and has achieved many milestones in his career so far. Last year, he defeated world number one player and former classical champion Magnus Carlsen in an online tournament. Praggnanandhaa has so far shown that he is capable of handling pressure and defeating the top players of the game.
Praggnanandhaa, who hails from Chennai, the hub of Indian chess, started making a name for himself in the game from a young age. He won the national under-seven title and never looked back. He became an International Master at the age of 10 and a Grand Master two years later. Praggnanandhaa reached his ELO rating of 2600 in 2019 at the age of 14 years and three months.
During the COVID-19 period, he showed his prowess in online tournaments. He defeated top players like Sergey Karjakin, Teimour Radjabov and Jan Krzysztof Duda in the Meltwater Champions Tour in 2021 while holding Carlsen to a draw.
Praggnanandhaa defeated Carlsen in the Airthing Masters Rapid Tournament in the year 2022. In this way, he became the third Indian player to defeat Carlsen after Anand and Harikrishna. After this, he continued to make his mark in various tournaments. Like Anand, Praggnanandhaa got the support of his family, especially his mother, from the very beginning. His mother Nagalakshmi stays with him during every tournament, which gives emotional benefit to this young player.
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 24, 2023, 16:18 IST