Praggnanandhaa crushes Magnus Carlsen at Freestyle Chess Las Vegas in dominant fashion: 'I like Freestyle more than Classical'

Teenage Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa scripted a stunning win over world No.1 Magnus Carlsen at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Las Vegas on Wednesday as the former world champion’s poor form continues against Indian chess players. Carlsen, who recently suffered back-to-back defeats against the reigning world champion from India, D Gukesh, lost to Praggnanandhaa in Round 4 of the group stage, which is being played with a time control of 10’ + 10" as the Indian finished the group stage in joint-lead.

The 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa, who has already achieved the massive feat of beating Carlsen across Classical, Rapid and Blitz formats, defeated the five-time world champion with a dominant performance in just 39 moves.

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Praggnanandhaa crushes Carlsen at Freestyle Chess Las Vegas

Praggnanandhaa was playing with White pieces and won the match against Carlsen with an accuracy of 93.9. At the same time, the Norwegian registered an abysmally low accuracy of 84.9, hinting at at how difficult the match was for the veteran.

“I like Freestyle more than Classical right now,” Praggnanandhaa said during an interview with organisers after his remarkable win over Carlsen, the first-ever player to reach a 2900+ rating in Freestyle chess.

Here’s how Praggnanandhaa defeated Carlsen:

By beating Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa also became the sole leader in the eight-player Group White, with 3.5 points. However, a draw against Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov and a defeat to Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian in Rounds 5 and 6, respectively, forced him to share the lead with four points.

He drew against Wesley So in the seventh and final round to finish on top of the Group White standings with 4.5 points, the same as Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Sindarov.

Carlsen struggles on Day 1 of Freestyle Chess Las Vegas

Carlsen finished fifth in the standings with four points from seven matches. He played a two-game tiebreaker with Aronian to decide who would finish fourth, considering both players had four points, but Carlsen lost both games and has no chance of winning the Las Vegas leg.

Carlsen began the Las Vegas round of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam by beating Vincent Keymer with Black pieces before achieving the same against Aronian in the next round. Before losing to Praggnanandhaa in Round 4, Carlsen played out a draw against Sindarov with White pieces.

In Round 5, Carlsen lost to Wesley So despite having the White pieces, followed by a draw in Round 6 against Abdusattorov with Black pieces. In the final round, Carlsen defeated Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva, the first female player in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, with White pieces.

Praggnanandhaa began by playing out a draw against Abdusattorov with Black, followed by a win against Assaubayeva. In Round 3, Praggnanandhaa defeated Keymer despite holding Black pieces before stunning Carlsen.

The top four players from each group will advance to the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals, while the bottom four finishers of each group will advance to the Bottom Bracket Quarterfinals.