FIDE Chess World Cup: 'I've been in pretty rough shape', Magnus Carlsen says he had food poisoning after semi-final win

Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen on Tuesday revealed that he suffered a bout of food poisoning after his semi-final win over Nijat Abasov at the FIDE Chess World Cup in Baku. “Normally, I would just probably have a bit of an advantage having a rest day while he (Praggnanandhaa) had to play a tough tiebreak yesterday, but I’ve been in a pretty rough shape the last couple of days. “I got some poisoning after the game against Abasov. I haven’t been able to eat for the last two days. This also meant that I was really calm cause I had no energy to be nervous,” Carlsen said on FIDE’s YouTube channel after the first game of the World Cup final against R Praggnanandhaa ended in a draw.

Carlsen said that he never saw Praggnanandhaa’s first move of c4 coming. “Pragg moves around a bit with his openings. I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t prepare for c4 (the first move played by Pragg). Then I started to play some common sense moves," added the 32-year-old. Praggnanandhaa had the advantage of playing with the white pieces and started on a solid note, before Carlsen later fought back and enforced a draw after 35 moves. The 18-year-old had beaten Fabiano Caruana, the world number three, with a 3.5-2.5 scoreline in the semi-finals. The Chennai-born chess prodigy had become only the second Indian, after the legendary Viswanathan Anand, to reach the final of the Chess World Cup. Meanwhile, Carlsen is hoping to secure his first-ever Chess World Cup title. The second game will be played on Wednesday, and Carlsen is not taking it lightly. “It’ll be a fight. He’ll (Prag) definitely push very hard. I’ll try to rest and come fresh, I think that’s the best I can do," Carlsen said.