R Praggnanandhaa Breaks Down Magnus Carlsen: Magnus Carlsen is widely seen as one of the greatest chess players in history. But interestingly, the Norwegian superstar himself has said in the past that Garry Kasparov is the greatest of all time.
“I Wasn’t Thinking Anything” – R Praggnanandhaa on Beating Carlsen
Beating Magnus Carlsen is no easy feat, but Indian chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa managed to do it, and he recently shared a hilarious memory from the first time it happened back in 2022.
It was an online game that made the then-16-year-old a viral sensation. Speaking on a YouTube podcast, he recalled the moment with a smile.
“Since it was 2 am in the night, at that time my parents were asleep. I went and woke my dad up and said: ‘I won’. He said, ‘Good’ and then he went back to sleep because he had to go to the office the next day,” he laughed.
When asked what went through his mind during the win, Praggnanandhaa had a surprisingly simple answer:
“I wasn’t thinking anything. I was just playing and I got my chance out of nowhere. Everything happened in like a few minutes. It was an online rapid game. I was quite happy,” he said.
“I was just excited like I wasn’t expecting it and then suddenly… I mean the game was also going in a trend where he was putting pressure on me and then suddenly I got my chance. I had to play some accurate moves which I did and I won. So um I was just very happy and then I also didn’t expect so much reaction from outside after that. So that was also I think a good thing for the game. I think it brought more attention.
“I was more excited about the fact that I just beat Magnus than the actual game. I didn’t think the game was particularly great or anything like that. I did analyze it later. I realized I didn’t really play well. It was like the fifth game of the day or something.”
“We were already tired and it was obvious that we were not not playing our best but I won and I think it was important for me back then. It gave me a lot of confidence and I realized that the top players are not invincible, you can beat them. Until you actually get that first win, you always feel like they are just in a different world. But once you beat them, you know that it’s possible,” he added.
That win was the turning point that brought Praggnanandhaa into the spotlight. Since then, he has faced Carlsen many times and has built up a solid record against him.
Breaking Through in Norway and Dominating in Las Vegas
In 2024, at Norway Chess, the now 20-year-old earned his first classical victory over the world number one. And in July 2025, he stunned the chess world again by beating Carlsen twice in just three days at the Las Vegas Freestyle Chess event.
Speaking on Raj Shamani’s Figuring Out podcast ahead of his 20th birthday, Praggnanandhaa explained what makes Carlsen so extraordinary.
“He has this intuition in every position which is just amazing. Like when you actually see his game, even in shorter formats, he usually plays the top three choices of the computer every single time. That intuition is something that he developed over a period of time. He’s one of the players who knows a lot of classics from the past. He has read a lot and I think that’s one thing he has that helps him. Also mentally he’s really strong. You can never see him collapse in a tournament completely. Even when you actually make a mistake when he’s lost he’s there fighting every chance he’s getting and he pushes till the end like he tries every resource that’s possible.”
“He exhausts them and I think that’s uh one of the reasons he’s um he’s at the top and when he was coming up. He was playing these end games which people in earlier days thought it was completely fine. They will just make draws because of mutual respect for the players. They’ll think it’s okay no one is going to win this. Let’s make an early draw. But Magnus started playing all those positions. He started grinding and then started winning also. So he’s just universally strong and he’s mentally also strong which is really…”
When asked what he has that Carlsen doesn’t, Praggnanandhaa admitted he had never really thought about it, but he did share one difference.
“I have never thought about this actually. If I have to speak about the style, he’s more of an intuitive player. His intuition is so good. Even though my intuition suggests a move, I usually try to go in details. It’s possible that I can catch him there because he hasn’t gone into the details. Sometimes intuition can also be wrong and I can catch him. Our games are always exciting.”
Carlsen, a five-time world champion, was unbeaten in any world championship match until he voluntarily stepped down from the title. Even today, he is ranked world number one in all three formats, a position he has held in every single monthly FIDE ranking since July 2011. He first took the top spot in 2010 before briefly losing it to Viswanathan Anand, but has dominated ever since.
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