Chess
Chess World Cup: Praggnanandhaa holds Magnus Carlsen to another draw to take final to tiebreaks
Baku (Azerbaijan), Aug 23 (IANS) India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa held World No.1 Magnus Carlsen to a second successive draw in their two-game final in the FIDE World Cup here on Wednesday, taking the summit clash into the tiebreaker.
Praggnanandhaa, who had played out a draw with white pieces on Tuesday, held the Norwegian five-time World Champion in Classical Chess to another draw, this time with black pieces.
It was a quiet draw as Carlsen could not gain much advantage despite playing with white pieces.
The final will now be decided on Thursday via rapid chess tiebreak games.
Chess
China’s grandmaster Wei Yi wins ‘Wimbledon of Chess’
The Hague, Jan 29 (IANS) Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi claimed the Tata Steel Chess Tournament title for the first time in the Netherlands on Sunday, beating Gukesh Dommaraju from India in a sensational tiebreak decider.
It was the 86th edition of the prestigious chess tournament held at Wijk aan Zee, a village on the Dutch west coast.
In the final, the 24-year-old grandmaster Wei, 16th in the FIDE world ranking, defeated Gukesh with a draw with the black pieces and a victory with white.
In the 13th and final regular round of the tournament earlier on Sunday, Wei beat Vidit Santosh Gujrathi from India, defending champion Anish Giri from the Netherlands defeated compatriot Max Warmerdam, Nodirbek Abdusattorov from Uzbekistan overpowered German Alexander Donchenko, and Gukesh tamed Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo.
The results meant four players finished on top on 8.5 points: Wei, Gukesh, Giri and Abdusattorov.
In the semifinals of the tiebreak, Wei beat Abdusattorov, and Gukesh defeated Giri.
Chinese reigning world champion Ding Liren, ranked fourth in the FIDE world ranking, the highest ranked player present in Wijk aan Zee, finished 8th with six points, and China’s Ju Wenjun, current and four times women’s world champion, finished 10th with 4.5 points.
Chess
‘Proud of Praggnanandhaa’, PM Modi praises young GM for runner-up finish in World Cup
New Delhi, Aug 24 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed young Indian Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa for his runner-up finish at the FIDE Chess World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Praggnanandhaa’s sensational run at the prestigious tournament came to an end after he lost to world No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the tie-break after the classical games in the final ended in a stalemate.
“We are proud of Praggnanandhaa for his remarkable performance at the FIDE World Cup! He showcased his exceptional skills and gave a tough fight to the formidable Magnus Carlsen in the finals,” PM Modi wrote on ‘X’, formerly Twitter.
“This is no small feat. Wishing him the very best for his upcoming tournaments.”
Chess
Chess World Cup: Praggnanandhaa goes down fighting to Carlsen in final
Chennai, Aug 24 (IANS) World No. 1 chess player by rating, Norwegian Grandmaster (GM) Magnus Carlsen (32) won the FIDE World Cup after defeating Indian prodigy GM R. Praggnanandhaa (18) in tie-breaker at Baku in Azerbaijan on Thursday.
Former world champion Carlsen clinched the title by winning the first tie-breaker game and then drawing the second one.
In the second tie-breaker, Carlsen with white pieces seemed to be in a hurry to wind up the game soon and went in for Queen exchange at the 17th move.
Soon after, the two players exchanged their bishops. At the end of the 22nd move, both players had four pawns, one rook, knight and a bishop each. The two then signed the peace treaty.
Playing with white pieces in the first game of the tie-breaker, Praggnanandhaa had an advantage in the initial stages and later maintained equality for a large part of the 47-move game.
However, the Indian player suffered a reversal from the 37th move onwards. At that point of time, the players were left with two rooks and minor pieces — two knights for Carlsen and a knight and a light coloured bishop for Praggnanandhaa.
The Indian player was also much behind on the clock and resigned on the 47th move.
It was the maiden World Cup title for Carlsen.
Chess
Chess World Cup: Praggnanandhaa holds Magnus Carlsen to another draw to take final to tiebreaks (Ld)
Baku (Azerbaijan), Aug 23 (IANS) India’s 18-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa played out a 30-move draw with World No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the second game in their two-game final in the FIDE World Cup here on Wednesday, taking the summit clash into the tiebreaker.
Praggnanandhaa, who was held to a draw with white pieces in the first game on Tuesday, held the Norwegian five-time World Champion in Classical Chess to another draw, this time with black pieces, as they remained tied 1-1 after two games.
The second successive draw means, the two players will come back to the board on Thursday to play shorter games in the tiebreaker to decide who wins the World Cup. If he wins, Carlsen will claim his first World Cup title while Prggnanandhaa is hoping to become the youngest winner of the World Cup by claiming his maiden title.
The World Cup final will now be decided on Thursday via rapid chess tiebreak games with the players having 25 minutes each with an increment of 10 seconds per move in the first two games. In case the tie is still not resolved, they will play two more games with shorter time control — 10 minutes for each player with 10 seconds added to the clock after every move. If the tie persists, they will next two more tiebreak games with five minutes for each player with three seconds added to their clock after each move. In case, the issue is not resolved even then, they will play unlimited games with each player with three minutes each on the clock with two seconds added to their respective clock after every move till one of them wins the mini-match.
In the second classical game on Wednesday, Carlsen opted for the Four Knights Variation in Spanish Opening to which Pragg responded with precise moves.
Carlsen, the 32-year-old five-time World Champion from Norway, offered an early exchange of knights and his 18-year-old rival from Chennai accepted it. After an exchange of a few more pieces, they reached an equal position.
Neither of them managed to gain any advantage as they reached an equal endgame. Carlsen usually likes to play such positions, slowly chipping around the opponent’s defence and getting him to make mistakes.
But in recent times, he has expressed his preference for shorter games of 1-2 hours to decide the outcome instead of playing for 5-6 hours.
Another reason why Carlsen did not press for victory was that he was not 100 per cent fit, still recovering from food poisoning. He said he was feeling a little better on Wednesday, but he was still low on energy.
Though Carlsen, a four-time World Rapid Chess Champion, fancies his chances in the faster time controls, on Wednesday, he said Praggnanandhaa could not be taken lightly as he has played more tie-break games in this event.
“Praggnanandhaa has already played a lot of tiebreaks against very strong players…I know he is very strong. If I have some energy, if I have a good day, obviously I will have good chances,” he told the official FIDE broadcaster after the game on Wednesday.
Carlsen also thanked the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the doctors provided by the local organising committee for helping him recover from food poisoning:
“I am very grateful to the organisers, FIDE and the doctors and nurses, who got me some good treatment. Today, I am feeling a bit better, but I still didn’t feel like I had the energy for a full fight, so I thought, let’s get one more day of rest. Hopefully, I will have more strength tomorrow,” said Carlsen.
On his part, Praggnanandhaa said he did not think Carlsen would go for a quick draw on Wednesday.
“I didn’t really think that he would go for a quick draw today, but I realised when he went for this line that he wants to make a draw; I was also fine with that. I also feel exhausted, as I said in the previous interviews. Now I can just give everything tomorrow and relax after that,” said Praggnanandhaa.
Praggnanandhaa said he did not feel Carlsen was unwell, though he did not think the Norwegian had a lot of energy.
“I didn’t feel he had a lot of energy; I didn’t think he was unwell. I hope he recovers for tomorrow,” he said.
Both players have already qualified for the 8-player Candidates Tournament next year, the winner of which will challenge reigning World Champion Ding Liren in the World Championship match. Carlsen has pulled out of the last World Championships cycle, refusing to defend his title.
Chess
Praggnanandhaa defeats Carlsen but falls short of winning the Crypto Cup
During the final round of the FTX Crypto Cup in Miami on Monday, young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa outplayed world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen 4-2 by winning three straight games, including two in the blitz tie-breaks.
Nevertheless, after defeating Carlsen, the 17-year-old could only finish in second place overall.
Due to a superior score, the Norwegian took home the top honor. He earned 16 match points in all, compared to the Indian prodigy’s 15.
It’s never good to lose, but this is as good a moment as any! I’ve been playing poorly all day, but now I’m getting the results I deserve! Carlsen stated following the game.
A second highly regarded young prodigy, Alireza Firouzja, ended with 15 points as well but had to settle for third place because he had lost the match against Praggnanandhaa earlier.
In the Carlsen-Praggnanandhaa match, the first two games were tied before the world number one won the third to take the lead.
The fourth game was unexpectedly won by the Indian, sending the match into tie-breaks. By winning both games in the tie-break, he stunned the Norwegian.
The world champion has been defeated twice in online competitions by Praggnanandhaa, who has been in excellent form this year.
He also had a significant impact on the India “B” team’s recent bronze-medal performance in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai.
Praggnanandhaa commented after the game versus Carlsen, “I think it could have done better the last few days but I think overall 2nd is good.”
Firouzja, the fourth-ranked player in the world, was defeated by Praggnanandhaa to open his campaign. He also defeated Anish Giri and Levon Aronian.
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