Indian chess prodigy R.Praggnanandhaa defeated Magnus Carlsen in the Superbet Rapid & Blitz chess tournament, part of the Grand Chess Tour. The 18-year-old is third in the tournament, and truly shocked Carlsen in their game, which carried over to his next game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, where he squandered a winning position.
China’s Wei Yi currently holds the top spot after seven wins in the first day of the blitz with 20.5 points. And by all likelihood, he could win the first leg of the title unless there is a significant setback.
R.Praggnanandhaa defeats Magnus Carlsen in first rated game
🚨BREAKING: 🇮🇳 GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu defeated 🇳🇴 Magnus Carlsen in the second blitz game of the #SuperbetRapidBlitzPoland event!
— Chess.com – India (@chesscom_in) May 11, 2024
Bravo @rpraggnachess!
📸 @GrandChessTour / @LennartOotes pic.twitter.com/44Rr2d8xCs
Praggnanandhaa couldn’t capitalise on to the momentum after defeating the world number one, however. He went on to lose his next two games, leaving him with a points tally of 14.5/27.
India’s Gukesh was able to defeat Wei Yi in the opening game, before the Chinese was able to turn things around.
On the final day, Carlsen needs to cover a gap of 2.5 points to be able to win. And while that sounds like a daunting task, it’s a challenge worthy of the world number one to achieve.
