India’s Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a stunning win against world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Las Vegas. The 19-year-old outplayed the Norwegian champion in just 39 moves during their Round 4 clash in the group stage. The match, played in a 10-minute plus 10-second increment time control format, saw Praggnanandhaa extend his impressive record against Carlsen. Having already beaten him in Classical, Rapid, and Blitz formats before, this latest win makes it a clean sweep across all formats for the young star. Carlsen, who had previously won the Grand Slam events in Paris and Karlsruhe and leads the overall tour standings, has now been knocked out of title contention in Las Vegas. He finished tied fourth in Group White and lost a playoff against Levon Aronian, which dropped him into the lower bracket. The best he can now finish is third. Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, holds the joint lead in Group White with 4.5 points, alongside Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov. His run included a draw with Abdusattorov, wins over Bibisara Assaubayeva and Vincent Keymer, and the big upset over Carlsen. Carlsen started the day well with two wins but struggled in the latter half. Defeats to Praggnanandhaa and Wesley So, coupled with two draws, left him needing a win in the final round. Though he managed to beat Assaubayeva, he was outplayed in both playoff games by Aronian. In the Black Group, Hikaru Nakamura was dominant, scoring 6/7. Hans Niemann also advanced with Fabiano Caruana and Arjun Erigaisi. Caruana, who had drawn his first six games, pulled off a crucial win against Niemann in the final round to qualify.
Poll
What was your reaction to Praggnanandhaa’s victory over Magnus Carlsen?
With the round-robin stage completed at the Wynn Las Vegas, the top four players from each group now move into the upper knockout bracket. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday, with losing players in the upper bracket moving into the lower bracket. The eventual champion will walk away with the USD 200,000 first prize.
