In the semi-final tiebreaks of the 2023 Chess World Cup in Baku on Monday, Indian Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu defeated world No. 3 Fabiano Caruana 3.5-2.5 to go to the championship match
The pair had previously played to draws on Saturday and Sunday in the classical division.
The Indian defeated American GM Fabiano Caruana in the third game of the tiebreak to get to the final after the first two classical games on Saturday and Sunday and the first two rapid games on Monday ended in draws. Then, in the last tiebreaker game, he defeated Caruana to earn a place in the championship match against Magnus Carlsen!
Both of the 25-minute games in the tiebreaks ended in draws, which made for an uneventful start to the tiebreaks. In the first of those games, the 18-year-old Indian was rather fortunate as Caruana wasted a winning position to settle for a draw.
Praggnanandhaa scored in the third tiebreaker game, which had a reduced time constraint (10 minutes).
The Chennai-lad, using the white pieces, moved into a pawn-up position after the 21st move and never lost it. 63 moves into the match, the child persisted and eventually forced the American to resign.
Playing with the black pieces in the subsequent game, Praggnanandhaa once more put Caruana under pressure, needing just a draw to win. The 31-year-old was able to escape difficulty, but he never truly had a chance to win the game before they shook hands after 83 moves.
After former World Champion Viswanathan Anand in 2002, Praggnanandhaa’s draw made him the first Indian to qualify for the FIDE World Cup Final. He also qualified for the 2024 Candidates competition, where the winner will compete against Ding Liren of China for the world championships title.
In Baku, Praggnanandhaa will compete for the championship against world No. 1 and former world champion Magnus Carlsen after defeating Caruana and world No. 2 Hikauru Nakamura en route to the final.
The teen chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, affectionately known as Pragg, will face five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen on Tuesday in the FIDE World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, and millions of Indians will be rooting for him.
Numerous political figures and athletes are cheering on the 18-year-old teenager for representing India with pride at the chess world championship.
ABOUT R PRAGGNANANDHAA
Praggnanandhaa was born and reared in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and became interested in chess when his older sister Vaishali began playing the game at age 6. He was just 2 years old at the time.
Later, in 2018 and 2021, Vaishali attained the titles of grandmaster and international master.
Praggnanandhaa, who resides in Chennai, the “chess capital of India,” was given numerous opportunity to polish his skills, particularly at the Bloom Chess academy, where he claims he “learned a lot.”
He finished second in the Indian championships for under-7s at the age of 6, took home the gold at the Asian Championships, and then won the under-8 and under-10 World Youth Chess Championships.
After winning his ninth round match at the KIIT International Chess Festival in Bhubaneswar, India, in 2016, he then made chess history.
He achieved the youngest-ever status of international chess master at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days.
Yesterday, following tiebreaks, Praggnanandhaa defeated Fabiano Caruana 3.5-2.5.
