After the famous Viswanathan Anand, R Praggnanandhaa made history as the second Indian chess player to reach the Chess World Cup final. He won a close semi-final match against Fabiano Caruana, 3.5-2.5, to advance to the final against five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. Even though Praggnanandhaa has been extremely impressive over the past several years, competing against a well-known player like Carlsen is always a monumental task. The Norwegian grandmaster has won five times in the World Chess Championship, four times in World Rapid Chess, and six times in World Blitz Chess. Only Garry Kasparov has held the top spot in the FIDE world chess rankings for longer than he did, having claimed it back in 2011.
However, Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa faced each other approximately 19 times in different world chess championships. In classical chess, one match occurred between Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa, and the match was tied between them. In Rapid Games, around six matches were drawn; however, Carlsen holds seven wins and five losses against Indian Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa. T
he 18-year-old Praggnanandha became the youngest chess player to defeat the World’s Top Chess player Magnus Carlsen in the 2013 World Chess Championship. However, the historic victory for Praggnanandhaa came in early 2022 at Arthings Masters, an online Rapid Chess Championship. In May 2022, the Indian Grandmaster won the match against Magnus Carlsen at the Chessable Masters, an Online Rapid Chess Tournament. This victory over Magnus brings much praise to Praggnanandhaa.
The most significant victory in Praggnanandhaa came precisely one year ago when he won the title against Carlsen three times in a row, one rapid and two blitzes at FTX Crypto Cup 2022.
