Chess Star R Praggnanandhaa Talks About Beating World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen

Chess grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa shared his experience of defeating World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen at the Norway Chess 2024. Despite Carlsen winning the tournament, Praggnanandhaa’s victory was significant as he had not played many classical tournaments recently. He finished third overall, behind Nakamura.

Praggnanandhaa said, “It was a difficult game. I knew I would face him in the third round. Before the game, I was ready for a fight because we both had made two draws in the first two games and I knew that he would come for a fight and I was mentally ready for it and he surprised me with a new opening.”

He added, “I got a very big advantage out of the opening and managed to convert it. It wasn’t easy especially because he’s a very good defender in bad positions but I think the position was the advantage which was it was good enough.”

Praggnanandhaa also mentioned that the Armageddon game, a faster format, didn’t go well initially but he managed to find a good resource and come back. He concluded by saying that the Norway Chess tournament gave him a lot of confidence and he looks forward to competing in the Superbet Romania Classical tournament.