AZERBAIJAN/INDIA: R Praggnanandhaa, 18, won a tie-breaker against World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana to advance to the finals. Magnus Carlsen, 32, advanced to the championship match after defeating Nijat Abasov. Carlsen will play in the World Cup final for the first time this year, hosted by FIDE.
India’s Pragnanandhaa, who turned 18, is the youngest player to participate in the World Cup championship game and has passed the age requirement for the Candidates Tournament. He is the third-youngest individual in the world to do so, following Carlsen and Bobby Fischer, who qualified for the competition at 16 years old. The final game will begin in Baku on Tuesday.
Praggnanandhaa is one of the most talented chess players in India and he is also referred to as Pragg. As the youngest International Master in the game’s history, he was just 10 years old at the time. He rose to the second-youngest grandmaster position in the world two years later, in 2018.
He became just the third Indian to triumph over the Norwegian grandmaster when he overcame Carlsen at the Airthings Masters, an online quick tournament, last year.
He is also the first Indian to advance to the FIDE World Cup final since the legendary chess player Vishwanathan Anand.
Anand wrote on X, “Pragg goes through to the final! He beats Fabiano Caruana in the tiebreak and will face Magnus Carlsen now. What a performance!”
The teenager, Praggnanandhaa, won the chess competition against Carlsen, a player he had not anticipated. He was praised by former world champions Susan Polgar and Garry Kasparov on social media.
Praggnanandhaa expressed his excitement about facing Carlsen in the final, stating he would give his best shot and see how it goes.
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