R Praggnanandhaa. (Twitter)
18-year-old Chess prodigy from Tamil Nadu stands on the cusp of eternal glory following his entry into the final, but the road to the title clash hasn’t been an easy one for Prag as he had to go through World No.2 and World No.3 ranked players.
Indian chess Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa R scripted history as he became the youngest player to reach the finals of the prestigious FIDE World Cup 2023 in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku on Monday with his semifinal win over American-Italian Chess GM Fabiano Caruana.
The 18-year-old genius from Tamil Nadu will square up against the Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen for a chance to get his hands on the coveted title.
The road to the championship match hasn’t been an easy one for Prag, as he is fondly known, as he had to go through World No.2 and World No.3 ranked players.
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The Indian mastermind was given a bye in the first round of the event in Baku and had to face his first challenge of the event during his second-round game against 29-year-old French player Maxime Lagarde.
Largade was no match for the mastery of the 18-year-old as he breezed past the French obstacle with a score of 1.5-0.5 to reach the third round of the tournament.
Experienced Czech GM David Navara was Prag’s next opponent in the third round of the tournament and a fierce test awaited the by from Chennai as he geared up to take on the 38-year-old.
Prag moved past the veteran payer with a score of 1.5-0.5 yet again to move onto the subsequent round, while ousting the Cazech grandmaster.
Prag was drawn against World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura in the fourth round in what was expected to be a mouth-watering encounter.
The fixture lived up to the billing as the contestants displayed some incredible tactics before Prag ultimately emerged victorious with a score of 3-1 swinging in his favour, thereby ousting the 35-year-old American mastermind.
Hungarian Ferenc Berkes was up against Prag in the fifth round but was no match for the Indian, who triumphed 1.5-0.5 to reach the sixth round, where he would take on compatriot Arjun Erigasi.
The encounter between the Indian GMs went on for aeons before Prag registered a come-from-behind win over Erigasi winning 5-4 to reach the semis of the event with Caruana lying in wait.
Prag picked up a 3.5-2.5 win over the 31-year-old to reach the summit clash of the World Cup as he goes charging ahead to tackle the final obstacle on his way to becoming the youngest-ever FIDE World Cup winner in the history of the sport.
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