‘Playing Magnus Carlsen On His Home Turf Is Not A Challenge’: R Praggnanandhaa

With less than a week to go for the prestigious 12th edition of Norway Chess, India’s chess sensation Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu is excited about playing the field which includes world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, World Champion Ding Liren and world No.3 Hikaru Nakamura among other global stars. The event will be held at Stavanger, Norway, from May 27 to June 7. “I am very happy and excited to play in Norway Chess. The field is extremely strong. This is perhaps the strongest field I have played and I see this as an opportunity and a challenge to give my best. I am also looking forward to playing in this time control which I have not played anywhere else,” said the 18-year-old Pragg.

Reflecting on his contest with world No.1 Magnus Carlsen at last year’s FIDE Chess World Cup where he gave the 32-year-old Norwegian a stiff challenge, Pragg said, “I always enjoy a good challenge. After the World Cup last year, this will be my first classical game with him. I am quite excited to play him and equally excited to play the others. No doubt the experience here will help me in future tournaments.”

The youngster from Chennai further emphasised that playing Carlsen on his home turf (Norway) is not a challenge. “I don’t think playing Magnus on his home turf is a challenge for me. Usually, it matters to the player playing in his home but it won’t matter so much for me,” expressed a confident Pragg, who will also have his sister Vaishali Rameshbabu play the prestigious Norway Chess Women’s Tournament for the first time.

“I am happy to see an exclusive women’s tournament being introduced in Norway Chess. It is a very good initiative because there are not many tournaments for women. This will encourage other organizations to come up with women’s tournaments too.

“My sister also will be playing there. I am looking forward to seeing how she will do,” he said.

With more events being added to the international calendar, Pragg highlighted the growth of chess worldwide and the increasing opportunities for young and upcoming players.

“It is a busy schedule this year. After the Norway Chess, we move to Budapest for the Chess Olympiad and I will also be playing the Global Chess League later this year. It is really good to have such an exciting league which I think will definitely help grow the game. As a chess fan, I’m happy to see this league grow. For now, my focus is on Norway Chess and I am physically and mentally well-prepared to do my best there,” signed off Pragg.

The tournament will be played in a double round-robin format with classical time control with each player getting 120 minutes for 40 moves with an increment of 10 seconds after each move. After move 41, there is a 1-second increment.

In case of a game ending in a draw, an Armageddon game will be played. In Armageddon, white gets 10 minutes, black seven.

Winning a classical game will fetch three points while a player will get 1.5 points for winning in Armageddon while one point will be awarded for losing Armageddon.

Full list of participants at Norway Chess 2024:

Men’s category:

1. Magnus Carlsen (Norway), 2830, World No. 1

2. Fabiano Caruana (USA), 2804, World No. 2

3. Hikaru Nakamura (USA), 2788, World No. 3

4. World Champion Ding Liren (China), 2776, World No. 4

5. Alireza Firouzja (France), 2765, World No. 6

6. Praggnanandhaa R. (India), 2748, World No. 11

Women’s Category: (ranking mentioned is in women’s section):

1. Koneru Humpy (India), 2554, World No. 2

2. Lei Tingjie (China), 2550, World No. 4

3. Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun (China), 2547, World No. 5