16-Year-Old Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa Defeats World No 1 Chess Player Magnus Carlsen With 39 Moves

When asked how he would celebrate his victory, he replied with, "I think it's about just going to bed," FIDE's website quoted Praggnanandhaa as saying.

Indian chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa photographed in 2018 (Photo | PTI)

New Delhi: Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa, a 16-year-old stunned the world after defeating World No. 1 Chess Champion 31-year-old Magnus Carlsen with 39 black piece moves in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters, an online rapid chess tournament.

Carlsen had racked up three wins in a row as he ominously cranked up the gears. But against 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa, he blundered badly, and the Indian star held firm for the win, ANI reported. 

According to a PTI, Praggnanandhaa lies in joint 12th spot after eight rounds with eight points. His spectacular win over Carlsen comes after a moderate run in the earlier rounds, which included a solitary victory over Lev Aronian, two draws and four defeats.

The 16-year-old drew against Anish Giri and Quang Liem Le and lost to Eric Hansen, Ding Liren, Jan-Kryzstof Duda and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Norwegian world no 1 Carlsen defeated Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi at the world championship match a few months ago and is now on top of the standings with 19 points followed by Ding Liren and Hansen (both on 15 points).

Airthings Masters is a 16-player online rapid tournament, a player gets three points for a win and one for a draw in the preliminary rounds. Seven more rounds remain in the preliminary phase.

It was Praggnanandhaa's first win in any form of chess against the Norwegian and came on the back of having lost three games in a row. Carlsen finished down in fifth - up from 11th on the leaderboard yesterday.

When asked how he would celebrate his victory, he replied with, "I think it's about just going to bed," FIDE's website quoted Praggnanandhaa as saying, reported ANI.