Chess World Cup 2023: R Praggnanandhaa Defeats Fabiano Caruana To Seal Final Against Magnus Carlsen

Chess World Cup 2023: R Praggnanandhaa managed to hand a defeat to American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana through a tiebreaker in the semifinal of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2023 semifinal.

India's R Praggnanandhaa will now compete in the FIDE Chess World Cup 2023 final against Magnus Carlsen.

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Chess World Cup 2023: India's chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa managed to hand a defeat to American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana through a tiebreaker in the semifinal of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2023 semifinal on Monday (August 21) in Baku, Azerbaijan. While he had played ywo classical games on Saturday and Sunday, the two rapid games on Monday had ended in a draw but it was in the third game of the tie-breaker that he emerged victorious. Later, in the final tiebreak game too, Praggnanandhaa won to seal a place for himself in the final where he would now face Magnus Carlsen.

Praggnanandhaa turned 18 during the FIDE Chess World Cup and reached this stage having already knocked out Hikaru Nakamura on the way. He is also now the third youngest to successfully qualify for the Candidates tournament after Bobby Fischer and Carlsen. Interestingly, Praggnanandhaa made a unique record as he is know the first Indian to reach the final of the Chess World Cup since the introduction of the knockout format in 2005. Thus, even though Viswanathan Anand did register a win in 2000 and 2002, that came in a 24-player league-cum-knockout format. 

Talking about the match, Praggnanandhaa and Caruana produced four draws in three days but the stark difference came in the first 10-minute rapid game and from there on the Indian never looked back. Caruana eventually resigned on the 63rd move, handing a victory to the Indian star. Following his victory, there have been reactions from all around the world on social media. India's first Chess Grand Master Viswanathan Anand also congratulated Praggnanandhaa on social media.

Pragg goes through to the final! He beats Fabiano Caruana in the tiebreak and will face Magnus Carlsen now.

What a performance!@FIDE_chess #FIDEWorldCup2023

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) August 21, 2023

Meanwhile, in the women’s final, Aleksandra Goryachkina denied 20-year-old Bulgarian Nurgyul Salimova the title as she won the second 25-minute rapid game to emerge as the champion.