Indian teen chess sensation R. Praggnandhaa lost the 2023 Chess World Cup final to Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen on Thursday but not without putting up a brave fight in the two-game tie-breaker that ultimately decided his fate. Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa wrote a golden chapter in Indian chess history by becoming only the second player from the country after Viswanathan Anand and the youngest to play in the FIDE World Cup final. The Norwegian chess grandmaster won the first game of the Rapid Chess tie-breaker with black pieces and managed to hold on for a draw in the second game with white pieces. The tie breaker is played in a Rapid Chess quicker-time control format. Praggnanandhaa fought hard but fell short with Carlsen summoning all his big match experience when it mattered the most. Earlier on Wednesday Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen drew both their games of Classical Chess. Praggnanandhaa had to settle for the position of runner-up of the 2023 FIDE World Cup but he will draw hope from the fact that he has qualified for the FIDE Candidates tournament.
The 2024 Candidates Tournament will be an eight-player chess tournament scheduled to be held from 2 April to 25 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada. The winner of the tournament will become the challenger for the 2024 World Chess Championship match. Praggnanandhaa had an excellent tournament where he defeated World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura in a tie-breaker while reaching the final defeating World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana.
R Praggnanandhaa’s road to World Cup final
• Got a bye in first round.
• Defeated French Grandmaster Maxime Lagarde 1.5-0.5 in second round.
• Beat experienced Czech GM David Navara 1.5-0.5 in third round.
• Beat world No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura of USA 3-1 in fourth round.
• Beat Hungarian Ferenc Berkes 1.5-0.5 in fifth round.
• Registered a come-from-behind 5-4 win over compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in the sixth round.
• Beat Italian-American Grandmaster, Fabiano Caruana, and ranked third in the world, 3.5-2.5 in the semi-final to become the youngest to reach the summit clash of the World Cup.
• Game 1 of Final on Tuesday ended in a draw after 35 moves.
• Game 2 between Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen also ended in a quick draw in just 30 moves.
• Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen returned on Thursday to play in the shorter time control games, with the Indian losing in the tie-break.