Praggnanandhaa vs Carlsen: Chess World Cup final battle to a draw in Game 1

New Delhi: At the FIDE World Cup finals on Tuesday in Baku, Azerbaijan, the opening game between India’s R Praggnanandhaa and World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen resulted in a draw after 35 moves. Playing white, Praggnanandhaa started the game with a time advantage but was unable to capitalise and eventually found himself in a time crunch.

The first game of the #FIDEWorldCup final between Praggnanandhaa and Magnus Carlsen ends in a draw after 35 moves.
Magnus will be White in tomorrow’s second classical game.

📷 Stev Bonhage pic.twitter.com/UXpcbQxIfN

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) August 22, 2023

The Indian chess prodigy, who is just 18 years old, beat the American-Italian Fabiano Caruana, who is 31 years old, in the earlier semifinal match. As a result, the Indian prodigy became the youngest-ever chess player to advance to the finals of the FIDE World Cup 2023.

On Monday, Praggnanandhaa overwhelmed Fabiano Caruana through the tie-break in the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup, setting up a championship match against Carlsen. After the iconic Bobby Fischer and Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa joined their ranks as the third-youngest player to ever reach the final of the Candidates tournament.

R Praggnanandhaa, who was White in the first game, got off to a strong start, forcing his opponent to change strategies many times. Carlsen once waited more than 15 minutes before playing his next move.

Praggnanandhaa gave Magnus Carlsen a tough challenge, the two players took their time, Praggnanandhaa was able to defend all Carlsen’s moves, and in the end, the two were unable to be separated.

From then on out, both players delivered very high-quality play, to the point where a tie appeared certain.

On Wednesday, Carlsen will be White as he is going to face Praggnanandhaa in the second classical game of the World Cup final in Baku.

Meanwhile, it must be noted that Praggnanandhaa has already qualified for the 2024 Candidates competition after blasting into the World Cup final.