16-yr-old Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa won against the world Chess champion Magnus Carlsen, as he stunned him in the 8th round of the Airthings Masters – an online rapid chess competition.
Praggnanandhaa won with black pieces in just 39 moves in a Tarrasch variation game on Monday, halting Magnus’ chance to bag a hattrick win. The Indian Grandmaster is currently in the 12th spot, after winning 8 points in 8 rounds. His extraordinary win over Carlsen comes after having moderate wins in the previous rounds. He had a solitary victory over Lev Aronian after 2 draws and 4 defeats.
He drew against Anish Giri and Quang Liem Le and lost to Eric Hansen, Ding Liren, Jan-Kryzstof Duda and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. It was Praggnanandhaa’s first win in any form of chess against the Norwegian Carlsen and came after losing three games in a row.
In the Airthings Masters, 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.