Meet Praggnanandhaa: 16-yr-old chess Grandmaster who stunned World No 1

16-year-old Indian Chess Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated World No. 1, Magnus Carlsen, on Monday in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters, an online rapid chess tournament. This is the first time time that Praggnanandhaa has managed to beat Carlsen. 

The young Indian Grandmaster defeated the World No. 1 with black pieces, ending Carlsen's 3-match winning run at the Airthings Masters. Praggnanandhaa ended the bout in just 19 moves in a Tarrasch variation game. "I think it's about just going to bed," said Praggnanandhaa when asked about how is going to celebrate his spectacular victory over Carlsen, reported Chess24. 

In the online rapid chess tournament, the Indian Grandmaster lies in joint 12th spot after eight rounds with eight points.

Who is Praggnanandha?

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, born 10 August 2005, is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he is the fifth-youngest person ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM), behind Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D and Javokhir Sindarov. He is the younger sibling of Vaishali Rameshbabu.

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.

Praggnanandhaa's win over Carlsen comes after a moderate run in the earlier rounds of the tournament, which included a single victory over Lev Aronian, two draws and four losses.

He had gone up against Anish Giri and Quang Liem Le, with both matches ending in a draw. He lost matches to Eric Hansen, Ding Liren, Jan-Kryzstof Duda and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi currently sits at the top of the standings with 19 points followed by Ding Liren and Hansen (both with 15 points). A few months ago, Nepomniachtchi had lost the world championship match to Norwegian world no 1 Carlsen.

About Airthings Masters:

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.