A 16-year-old Indian chess prodigy defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen, the youngest player to do so since Carlsen secured the championship title in 2013.
Rameshbabu “Pragg” Praggnanandhaa secured his victory over the Norwegian, who is the No. 1 chess player in the world, in 39 moves during the Airthings Masters virtual tournament on Sunday. Praggnanandhaa is the third Indian grandmaster to have won against Carlsen.
Though Carlsen won several matches on the first day of the tournament, Praggnanandhaa opened with several losses. He said he hoped he could continue his momentum throughout the rest of the tournament. Praggnanandhaa said he would celebrate by going to bed, saying getting used to the late timing of the games has been difficult since he is based in India.
Carlsen said a recent bout with COVID-19 affected his performance.
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“It’s been a little bit better today, but the first couple of days I was feeling like I’m OK, but I didn’t have the energy, which made it hard to focus because every time I tried to think, I blundered,” he said, according to CNN. “It was a little bit better today but still pretty bad.”
Other Indian grandmasters congratulated Praggnanandhaa on the win, including five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand.
Always proud of our talents! Very good day for @rpragchess https://t.co/vIcFUwAzmZ
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) February 21, 2022
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Praggnanandhaa became the youngest international grandmaster in history when he claimed the title at age 10.
