Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa of India’s outstanding performance in the FIDE World Cup 2023 came to an end on Thursday in the championship match when the 18-year-old fell short to World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in a two-game rapid tie-break series.
The Grandmaster from Chennai, the youngest person to ever make it to the FIDE World Cup final, lost the first rapid game under extreme time constraints after holding the five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen to straight draws in the classical games.
Carlsen displayed outstanding play in the endgame in the first 25+10 Rapid tiebreak game with the black pieces to defeat Praggnanandhaa. The 32-year-old Norwegian utilised his vast experience to force a victory from an equal position by steadily pushing the Indian to the limit with quick, precise movements, placing Pragg under extreme time pressure. With time running out and an all-out assault coming his way, Pragg submitted his resignation.
With black pieces, Pragg had to win the second game in a must-win scenario in order to tie the scores and force more tiebreaks. However, Praggnanandhaa could only manage a draw and lost the two-game tiebreak 1.5-0.5.
Carlsen ultimately prevailed in the match 2.5 to 1.5 to win his first World Cup championship. The only title missing from his cabinet was this one. The match was eventually won by Carlsen in Baku after playing a smart tactical game in which he conserved energy by accepting quick draws in the two classical games and outwitted his youthful Indian opponent in rapid chess, a game type in which the Norwegian is a four-time World Champion and thus believes he has a good chance of winning.
Thus, Praggnanandhaa finished second in the 2023 FIDE World Cup, which was his best finish in a senior-level FIDE official competition.
The 18-year-old Indian prodigy won a lot of rating points during the tournament and is anticipated to climb nine spots to position 20 when the FIDE Rating list is revised on September 1.
Praggnanandhaa defeated several top-ranked players, including American Fabiano Caruana and world No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura, in route to the championship match. Praggnanandhaa earned a spot in the FIDE Candidates Tournament, which will determine who will face current World Champion Ding Liren in the World Championship Match in 2024, in addition to the silver medal from the World Cup.
Fabiano Caruana of the United States scored a convincing victory with black over Nijat Abasov in their first tiebreak game and went on to clinch third place. Caruana thus also secured a ticket to the FIDE Candidates tournament next year.
-IANS
