Chess World Cup 2023 Final Highlights: India’s Praggnanandhaa finishes 2nd after valiant fight with World No 1 Magnus Carlsen

 

 

 

 

 

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After three days of intense chess across two formats, Magnus Carlsen finally managed to win the FIDE World Cup for the first time in his career on Thursday. He defeated India’s R Praggnanandhaa in the final, but not before the 18-year-old teenage prodigy had dragged him through the tie-breaker. In days to come, every time the two chess stars meet, there will be a buzz around those games. The 2023 World Cup could have started a rivalry between two players whose backgrounds could not have been more distinct.Let’s first start with the boy from Chennai. Every time Praggnanandhaa exits the chess hall, his eyes wander for his mother Nagalakshmi, usually slunk into an anonymous corner of the corridor, fidgeting nervously on the loose strands of her saree’s pallu.  

READ SANDIP G'S COPY

Carlsen defeated Pragg ?? in the playoff to win 2023 @FIDE_chess World Cup! It all came down to endgame, against both Pragg and Gukesh. Clearly this is a MUST area of improvement for the young phenoms!

Valiant effort by @rpragchess and the Indian delegation (@DGukesh… pic.twitter.com/t3GidjQg1R

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) August 24, 2023

Chess? pic.twitter.com/Vm2wOtC9zn

— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) August 24, 2023

Praggnanandhaa can come back with a candidates spot and a truly wonderful result.@FIDE_chess #FIDEWorldCup2023

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) August 24, 2023

In the end, it's Magnus! His persistence is rewarded with a victory in the only tournament that eluded him so far! Congratulations to the #FIDEWorldCup2023 winner Magnus Carlsen!

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) August 24, 2023

World No 1 Magnus Carlsen struggled for motivation at the start of the FIDE World Cup. He also spoke of feeling nerves during games. He faced a harsh reckoning and an ugly reminder of past failures in the event after a defeat to Vincent Keymer.

Then he was hit by a bout of food poisoning.

But despite all that, he prevailed against India's rising star R Praggnanandhaa to win his maiden World Cup title. 

READ MORE  

On his way to the final, Pragg ended the campaigns of World No 2 Hikaru Nakamura and World No 3 Fabiano Caruana via the tie-breaks before pushing Carlsen's quest for his first-ever World Cup triumph into the tiebreak as well. 

Even before the final, the FIDE World Cup had been an event to savour for the teenager from Chennai since he also sealed a spot at the prestigious Candidates Tournament, which is held to find a challenger for world champion Ding Liren at the next world chess championship battle. Pragg, who turned 18 during the World Cup, was the youngest World Cup finalist ever. Seeded 31, Pragg is also the lowest seed to make the final of the World Cup.

He agrees to a draw!! 

1 e4 c5
2 c3 Nf6
3 e5 Nd5
4 Nf3 Nc6
5 d4 cxd4
6 Bc4 Nb6
7 Bb3 d6
8 exd6 Qxd6
9 O-O Bf5
10 Nxd4 Nxd4

Pragg playing with black pieces, and with the pressure of having to win on demand! 

The Indian teenager will return to play one more tiebreak game with black pieces shortly against Carlsen. If he can win that, the game will go into two more tiebreakers with even lesser time on the clock! 

While his opponent Magnus Carlsen has almost three minutes. 

Every move players make gives them 10 seconds on the clock as an increment. 

It's incredibly tense, but so far Praggnanandhaa looks to have outplayed Carlsen in the endgame of the 1st tiebreak game! #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/TUchKcabvO

— chess24.com (@chess24com) August 24, 2023

1 e4 e5
2 Nf3 Nc6
3 Bc4 Nf6
4 d3 Bc5
5 a4 d6
6 O-O a5
7 Be3 Bxe3
8 fxe3 O-O
9 Nbd2 Ne7
10 Nh4 c6
11 Qe1 d5
12 Bb3 Qd6
13 Qg3 Nh5
14 Qg5 g6
15 Nf5 Bxf5
16 exf5 Kg7
17 Kh1 Qf6
18 Qxf6+ Nxf6
19 fxg6 hxg6
20 e4 dxe4
21 dxe4 Rad8
22 Rf2 Rd4
23 Raf1 Neg8
24 c3 Rd7
25 Re2 Re7
26 Bc2 Nd7
27 Nc4 Ra8
28 g4 f6
29 Rg2 Nh6
30 g5 fxg5

Pragg has one additional minute on his clock at the moment.

On the board, the Indian has an extra bishop while the World No 1 has an extra knight.

1 e4 e5
2 Nf3 Nc6
3 Bc4 Nf6
4 d3 Bc5
5 a4 d6
6 O-O a5
7 Be3 Bxe3
8 fxe3 O-O
9 Nbd2 Ne7
10 Nh4 c6
11 Qe1 d5
12 Bb3 Qd6
13 Qg3 Nh5
14 Qg5 g6
15 Nf5 Bxf5
16 exf5 Kg7

Kids growing up fast https://t.co/iVEleJkJZm

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) August 23, 2023

How is Magnus Carlsen preparing for his #FIDEWorldCup final tiebreaks tomorrow?

By playing in the #SpeedChess Championship qualifier, even though he's already qualified! ? pic.twitter.com/AdY9WQFtdW

— chess24.com (@chess24com) August 23, 2023

The Praggnanandhaa-Carlsen tiebreaks have begun — one of the players must win the #FIDEWorldCup today! pic.twitter.com/owYr9puKY8

— chess24.com (@chess24com) August 24, 2023

Pragg is much quicker today. Carlsen is uncharacteristically thinking about his moves so far. 

1 e4 e5
2 Nf3 Nc6
3 Bc4 Nf6
4 d3 Bc5
5 a4 d6
6 O-O a5
7 Be3 Bxe3
8 fxe3 O-O
9 Nbd2 Ne7
10 Nh4 c6

Pragg starts with an e4. 

Two tie-break games shall be played in the rapid format with time control of 25 minutes for each player. Each player will get a 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1.

Carlsen is a five-time world champion in the classical format, four-time rapid world champion and six-time world blitz champion. He's been World No 1 since 2011. 

It seemed like an inside joke between two friends. Magnus Carlsen, in the midst of his own tiebreak tussle against Vincent Keymer at the FIDE World Cup, walked up to R Praggnanandhaa to congratulate the 18-year-old for eliminating World No 2 Hikaru Nakamura. It was a brief conversation, Carlsen was on a clock after all, with his game against his German opponent still hanging in the balance. But that short exchange quickly became viral.

Later, when asked about that moment, Carlsen said RB Ramesh, Pragg’s coach, had been telling youngsters at a coaching camp at Offerspill Chess Club, which is Carlsen’s club, that they should ‘be like Pragg’. “I told Praggnanandhaa that today we all want to be like Pragg,” Carlsen told FIDE’s YouTube channel.

But what does it take to Be Like Pragg? 

We asked RB Ramesh, Pragg's coach and the man who coined that phrase, the explain. 

Magnus Carlsen played in his first ever FIDE World Cup in 2005. It was that year, that Pragg was born!!

Should the 18-year-old from Chennai defeat Carlsen in the final, he would become the first player in the history of the FIDE World Cup to defeat the top 3 seeds in the same event.

Ramesh also talks of Pragg’s incredible self-control and contrasts it to others in his age group. For this, Ramesh, who was India’s 10th grandmaster, returns to the genesis of the ‘Be Like Pragg’ line. The line came during a training session at Carlsen’s club, Offerspill, where Ramesh was the chief coach during a recent training camp, that coincided with the start of the FIDE World Cup in Baku. This monk-like discipline helped Pragg blitz through obstacles and rack up one accolade after another. He became an international master (the title chess players have before grand master) at the age of 10, becoming the youngest player in the world to do so. He then became a GM at the age of 12, the second youngest player to do so at the time. He reached the 2600 mark in the ELO rating at the age of 14, once again a world record at the time.

Pragg spends his time in intensely cerebral training sessions that help boost his visualisation powers. It’s not as dramatic as playing chess blindfolded but it’s equally effective. “We do a lot of sessions where we train without moving pieces on the board. We just discuss the moves verbally and we analyse positions. But we don’t move any pieces. Most players train by moving pieces on the board, but when you do that your visualisation skills will not be so good. That’s why Pragg is probably the best among all the other players in his generation when it comes to visualisation,” Ramesh tells The Indian Express.

A phrase that became popular during the ongoing FIDE World Cup, thanks to Magnus Carlsen is 'be Like Pragg'. The man who came up with the line, RB Ramesh, explains what goes on behind the scenes to make a Pragg! Ramesh paints a picture of a boy who is so dedicated to his craft that he has actively abstained from the trappings that take up considerable time of most teenagers like social media and socialising with friends. (READ MORE)

Carlsen, though, put his defensive play entirely down to him feeling unwell. “I didn’t feel like I had the energy for a fight so I thought I’d get one more day of rest and have more strength tomorrow (Thursday),” the Norwegian said after the game.

Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay said the only purpose of the move by white was to play for a draw. “The move is called a 4 Knights Game as all four knights are played. It is considered to be defensive and the sole purpose of this is generally to play out a draw,” Thipsay said. Thipsay opined that perhaps Carlsen had something strategic on his mind and wanted to use that in shorter formats. “Sometimes when you have a new strategy, you want to use it in a shorter format as your opponent has very little time to decipher it. In the longer format, it’s easier to find out your opponent’s strategy,” he said.

The FIDE World Cup is the only major chess trophy missing from Carlsen’s overflowing cabinet and one would think that the 32-year-old would go on the offensive with white pieces. After all, he is the world’s only 2800+ rated player and though he’s not the current world champion, there’s no doubt he’s the best player.

In only 30 moves, taking just about an hour and 10 minutes, the second Classical game of the FIDE World Cup final between Magnus Carlsen and R Praggnanandhaa on Wednesday was done. It was almost like the five-time world champion and India’s young superstar wanted to finish their match in time to see the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon. With both the games drawn, the match now heads into tiebreakers on Thursday and it promises to be an exciting affair. (READ MORE)

Pragg’s secret drill: RB Ramesh, the man behind ‘Be like Pragg’, explains what it takes to be like Praggnanandhaa

Bull run on the chessboard: As number of GMs from India surges, casual fans from nation too rising

The bond between teenage prodigy Gukesh and India’s first GM Viswanathan Anand

Magnus Carlsen reveals what he told Praggnanandhaa after Indian teen upset Hikaru Nakamura 

PROFILE: D Gukesh, The Boy Who Went Past Viswanathan Anand

‘The name of the game is intimidation’: Hungry Gukesh takes on resurgent Magnus Carlsen 

Young Magnus Carlsen building large Lego sets made his father to teach him chess

Magnus Carlsen: ‘We’re at beginning of chess revolution in India which started with Vishy Anand’ 

GM Srinath Narayanan: There’s a consensus in world of chess that India is a superpower 

Meals turn into mentoring sessions as Magnus Carlsen takes India’s teenaged trio under wings

"Nijat Abasov has won a number of tiebreaks; he is playing well. Even today, I don't think he played a bad game; it's just that the opening didn't work out. In turns of preparing for the tiebreak, I will just try to rest as much as possible. This is the main thing for me,"  says Caruana, who will be facing Abasov tomorrow in the third-place playoff tomorrow. 

How is Magnus Carlsen preparing for his #FIDEWorldCup final tiebreaks tomorrow?

By playing in the #SpeedChess Championship qualifier, even though he's already qualified! ? pic.twitter.com/AdY9WQFtdW

— chess24.com (@chess24com) August 23, 2023

With the Chess World Cup final undecided after two games in the Classical format, R Praggnanandhaa and Magnus Carlsen will now face off in a tie-breaker featuring shorter format contests on Thursday.

Click on the link to read our explainer on how the tie breaker works

Caruana wins on demand and we will have two tiebreak matches tomorrow!#FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/2Yp1R71Kmw

— chess24.com (@chess24com) August 23, 2023

So both games will be played in a tie-breaker tomorrow. 

Carlsen vs Praggnanandhaa for the World Cup winner's crown and Caruana vs Abasov for the third-place finisher!

Fabiano Caruana, who lost to Praggnanandhaa in the semis, lost yesterday's game. So he still needs to win today's game. A draw will seal his opponent's third-place finish. 

We are down to two pawns for each side, but Caruana still has good chances to win!#FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/F9sQKjdHCP

— chess24.com (@chess24com) August 23, 2023

.@rpragchess is definitely a role model for the youth of India.

Having played such brilliantly throughout and then playing against the World No.1 in the final to take it to a tie-breaker is extraordinary.
Best wishes to him for tomorrow! #FideWorldCup pic.twitter.com/otPrpN2oqI

— DK (@DineshKarthik) August 23, 2023

Since the two classical games did not yield a winner, both players will face each other in tiebreakers tomorrow. 

Here's how the tie breaker works:

Two tie-break games shall be played with time control of 25 minutes for each player + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. 

If that does not find a winner, the players will play two more games with a time control of 10 minutes for each player + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1.

If that also does not find a winner, there will be two more games with time control of 5 minutes for each player + 3 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1. 

If that also does not find a winner, the blitz portion o the tiebreak will start with one game with a time control of 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1 shall be played to determine the winner. This single game will be repeated until there's a winner.

"Tomorrow, I just want to come with a fresh mind. I will try to rest today; it is very important because I've been playing a lot of tiebreaks here. I know it can take a lot of games or short ones as well, so I have to be ready for everything," says Praggnanandhaa.

It seemed like an inside joke between two friends. Magnus Carlsen, in the midst of his own tiebreak tussle against Vincent Keymer at the FIDE World Cup, walked up to R Praggnanandhaa to congratulate the 18-year-old for eliminating World No 2 Hikaru Nakamura. It was a brief conversation, Carlsen was on a clock after all, with his game against his German opponent still hanging in the balance. But that short exchange quickly became viral.

Just 5 short years ago! @Rameshchess @ReykjavikOpen @GunnarBjorns @ECUonline @FIDE_chess pic.twitter.com/M199Fw0olW

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) August 22, 2023