FIDE Chess World Cup: R Praggnanandhaa shocks Fabiano Caruana, to meet Magnus Carlsen in final

R Praggnanandhaa continued his dream run at the FIDE Chess World Cup on Monday as he stunned World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana 3.5-2.5 in the tie-breaker in the semi-finals to set up a clash with Magnus Carlsen. After the two-game classical series ended in a 1-1 stalemate, the 18-year-old outlasted the highly-rated American GM in a battle of wits in a nerve-wracking tie-breaker. In the final, beginning Tuesday, Praggnanandhaa will take on five-time champion Carlsen, who beat Azerbaijan’s Nijat Abasov 1.5-0.5 in his semi-final. Praggnanandhaa has become the third youngest player after legendary Bobby Fischer and Carlsen to qualify for the Candidates tournament. “I didn’t expect to play Magnus in this tournament at all because the only way I could play him was in the final, and I didn’t expect to be in the final. I will just try to give my best and see how it goes!,” he said after booking a spot in the summit clash. “It feels really good to qualify for the Candidates; I really wanted to fix this spot.” With the two 25’+10’ games ending at 1-all, Praggnanandhaa prevailed in the first 10’+10’ game against Caruana to get within a draw of setting up a final clash with top-ranked Carlsen.

Pragg goes through to the final! He beats Fabiano Caruana in the tiebreak and will face Magnus Carlsen now.

What a performance!@FIDE_chess #FIDEWorldCup2023

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) August 21, 2023

“Pragg goes through to the final! He beats Fabiano Caruana in the tiebreak and will face Magnus Carlsen now. What a performance!,” chess legend Viswanathan Anand posted on social networking site ‘X’, formerly Twitter. In the first game of tie-break, the Indian GM withstood a lot of pressure from Caruana and held on for a draw in an exciting encounter. The second rapid game too saw a similar result, pushing the semifinals to the 10’+10’ series. Praggnanandhaa has been in a rich vein of form at the World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan and his biggest scalp before Caruana was another American in Hikaru Nakamura, the World No. 2 and second-seed, following which he stopped compatriot Arjun Erigaisi .

Congratulations @rpragchess for winning against Fabiano and going to the finals at the World Cup in 2023! Proud and happy!

— Ramesh RB (@Rameshchess) August 21, 2023

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“Congratulations @rpragchess for winning against Fabiano and going to the finals at the World Cup in 2023! Proud and happy!,” noted chess coach R B Ramesh wrote on ‘X’.

Congratulations to GM Praggnanandhaa 🇮🇳 for reaching the 2023 World Cup final to face Magnus! He defeated world #2 Fabiano in the playoff to earn the coveted spot! He also defeated world #3 Hikaru earlier!

By making the final, he also automatically qualified for the Candidates… pic.twitter.com/ANuvYvuhee

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) August 21, 2023

Former women’s world No.1 Susan Polgar also hailed the young Indian GM. “Congratulations to GM Praggnanandhaa for reaching the 2023 World Cup final to face Magnus! He defeated world #2 Fabiano in the playoff to earn the coveted spot! He also defeated world #3 Hikaru earlier!”

Congratulations to Praggnanandhaa @rpragchess on his amazing victory & making it to the FINALS of @FIDE_chess' Chess World Cup. Bravo!👏🏼

Indian 🇮🇳 chess lovers can't wait for the Final as it promises to be one RED HOT Contest with the World no.1 @MagnusCarlsen on the other side! pic.twitter.com/bQ99ear4zV

— Dr. Sanjay Kapoor (@SnjKpr) August 21, 2023

AICF president Sanjay Kapoor said, “Congratulations to Praggnanandhaa @rpragchess on his amazing victory & making it to the FINALS of @FIDE_chess Chess World Cup. Bravo! Indian chess lovers can’t wait for the Final as it promises to be one RED HOT Contest with the World no.1 @MagnusCarlsen on the other side!” By becoming only the second Indian after Anand to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, Pragg booked a spot in the Candidates event in 2024 to determine the challenger to Ding Liren. The top three finishers in the tournament qualify for the Candidates event in 2024 to determine the challenger to current world champion Liren of China. ‘Over a billion Indians cheering for you’

Congratulations to R Praggnanandhaa for an outstanding FIDE Chess World Cup journey to the Finals.

My best wishes for the title match against Magnus Carlsen.

More than a billion Indians are cheering for you.🏆🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/3u9MYHeFqc

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 21, 2023

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi congratulated R Praggnanandhaa on progressing to the FIDE Chess World Cup and said more than a billion Indians are rooting for his success. In a post on X, Gandhi said, “Congratulations to R Praggnanandhaa for an outstanding FIDE Chess World Cup journey to the Finals. My best wishes for the title match against Magnus Carlsen.” “More than a billion Indians are cheering for you,” he said.

Congratulations to R Praggnanandhaa for making it to the finals of the FIDE Chess World Cup.

Best wishes for the big match ahead 🏆🇮🇳#FIDEWorldCup2023

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) August 21, 2023

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also congratulated Praggnanandhaa on making the top-two. “Best wishes for the big match ahead,” she said. (with inputs from PTI)