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India’s 16-year-old R Praggnanandhaa defeats World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in global chess tournament

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, in 2016 became the youngest international master in history at the age of 10.

After a streak of losing three successive games on Day one, India’s 16-year-old chess Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa shocked world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters rapid online chess tournament today.

Praggnanandhaa won with black pieces to end Carlsen’s 3-match winning run at the Airthings Masters in just 19 moves in a Tarrasch variation game.

The Indian GM 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.

On Sunday, Praggnanandhaa drew the first round with Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and lost to Canadian Eric Hensen, Chinese Ding Liren and Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

On Monday, he drew against Dutch player Anish Giri and and lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.

Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, who lost the world championship match a few months ago to the Norwegian world no 1 Carlsen, is on top of the standings with 19 points followed by Ding Liren and Hansen (both on 15 points).

In the Airthings Masters, a global 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.

When asked what he would do to celebrate the stunning victory over Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa said: “I think it’s about just going to bed,” as reported by Chess24.

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