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Journalism of Courage
Magnus Carlsen’s admiration for Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu is well documented. During the 2023 FIDE World Cup, where Pragg and Carlsen had battled it out in the final for the title — where Carlsen had eventually prevailed over the Indian teenager — that admiration was on full display. When Pragg had defeated Hikaru Nakamura in a previous round of the 2023 World Cup, Carlsen had gotten up from his own game and patted the Indian on his back. Later he had even revealed that thanks to Pragg’s childhood coach, RB Ramesh, the phrase, “Be Like Pragg” was particularly famous in his own club back home in Norway.
Now, in an interview, as Praggnanandhaa chases another spot in the Candidates tournament, which will decide who will challenge Gukesh in the next World Chess Championship, Carlsen has indirectly given a glowing endorsement of the Indian youngster.
Praggnanandhaa is likely to qualify for the FIDE Candidates tournament via the FIDE circuit spot for this year, just as Fabiano Caruana booked his spot via the 2024 FIDE Circuit. With the Grand Swiss offering two Candidates spots to Anish Giri and Mattias Bluebaum, and Hikaru Nakamura likely to take up the Rating spot, there will be just three more spots available at the Candidates through the FIDE World Cup in Goa later this year.
When Carlsen was asked by Take Take Take who he hopes or who he feels deserves to secure a spot at the Candidates through the World Cup in Goa, Carlsen said: “I don’t really hope for anybody. But I generally hope to see the best players there. I don’t know. There are a lot of… probably a couple more of the young guys. But honestly, as long as Pragg is in there, you know, there isn’t a lot to choose between (the rest). I hope Alireza Firouzja makes it, but I’m not even sure he’s going to play in the World Cup.”
Carlsen then weighed in on the format to pick the Candidates contenders at the Grand Swiss.
“It has to be said that it’s incredibly cruel to decide the Candidate spots by tiebreaks as they do. I don’t know what the rules are but also if the average oppositions include your own rating then that’s probably something they should fix. If they have fixed that then it’s a good thing they fixed it. But I just don’t think it’s a good way to decide Candidate spots. But whatever, I’m out of that game. I’m not making those rules. I’m a mere spectator at this point,” Carlsen added.
Carlsen also spoke about Hikaru Nakamura, who has a proud record at the Titled Tuesday events but has not done too well since Chess.com changed the format a few weeks back.
“Three tournaments in a row where he is not really much of a factor in the fight for the top places at all is surprising, but he’ll be back,” Carlsen predicted.
The world no 1 also spoke about Anish Giri and Bluebaum securing Candidates spots via the Grand Swiss tournament.
Asked if he was surprised by the top two, Carlsen said: “For sure. I think Bluebaum had an incredible tournament.
And to be fair, it is a bit easier when you come up like he got a few games and then he did really well against Arjun Erigaisi to win that and after that he could kind of cruise like a little bit like the others are forced to beat him. So he’s in a good position. Giri, I think got the friendliest pairings in the whole tournament for a long time, but then in the end he took his chances while um the others didn’t. So, it was very deserved.”
