Indian chess grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa finished at fourth position in the Rapid and Blitz chess tournament held in Poland, while the world number one Magnus Carlsen emerged as a winner with an incredible performance on the final day of the competition on Sunday. China’s Wei Yi was leading over Carlsen with 2.5 points going into the last day with nine rounds of blitz still left. However, he had to settle for the second position after the Norway chess star went on a nine-game winning streak, also beating three Indians, Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh D and Praggnanandhaa.
This is Carlsen’s seventh tournament in a row after: the Champions Chess Tour Final, World Rapid Championship, World Blitz Championship, Chessable Masters, Freestyle Chess GOAT Challenge, Grenke Chess Classic and now the Rapid and Blitz Poland.
Arjun finished at the fifth spot, while Gukesh D, the winner of the FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2024 and the youngest-ever challenger to the world title held by Ding Liren, finished at the 10th spot.
With this victory, Carlsen is also at the top of the Grand Chess Tour 2024 season, a circuit of chess tournaments where players worldwide compete for lucrative prize pools.
Praggnanandhaa, with another fine performance, outshining his peers, has once again proved why he is a talent to watch out for. In 2023, he became the world’s youngest chess player to reach the World Cup final, and only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to achieve the feat. In 2022, the shy and soft-spoken teenager caused heads to turn in the world of chess by defeating Magnus Carlsen multiple times, shining the spotlight on India’s progress. The Chennai-based Praggnanandhaa, who loves mathematics and unwinds by watching TV or listening to Tamil music, also won the silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023.
Praggnanandhaa started playing at the tender age of 5 and went on to become India’s youngest and the then world’s second-youngest Grandmaster at age 12 in 2018. He is the fifth-youngest person to achieve the title of Grandmaster after Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D and Javokhir Sindarov.
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) acknowledged Carlsen’s win, tweeting, “Magnus Carlsen emerged as the winner of the 2024 Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz. The World #1 became the leader of the Grand Chess Tour 2024 season and took home $40,000 first prize.
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