R Praggnanandhaa may not have qualified for the knockouts in the ongoing Airthings Master Chess tournament having finished 11th, 3 places behind the final 8 but the 16 year old grandmaster (GM) from Chennai achieved an impressive feat during the 4-day prelims of this online competition. In his first, Praggnanandhaa went on to defeat world No: 1 Chess champion Magnus Carlsen and became only the third Indian after Vishwanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna to beat the Norwegian in any form of Chess
R Praggnanandhaa becomes the latest Indian to beat Magnus Carlsen in tournament play after Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna 👏 @rpragchess 🤝@vishy64theking 🤝 @HariChess
— ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) February 21, 2022
Praggnanandhaa's win against Carlsen came on the back of having lost three games in a row and was lauded as an important event in the history of Indian Chess. Among the celebrities to congratulate the chess prodigy were actors Kamal Haasan and Sivakarthikeyan, who took to Twitter to express their awe of this incredible feat.
Thank you very much sir! @ikamalhaasan https://t.co/eu91LJ3AU5
— Praggnanandhaa (@rpragchess) February 22, 2022
Thank you anna!😃 @Siva_Kartikeyan https://t.co/GcCkuuGGyn
— Praggnanandhaa (@rpragchess) February 22, 2022
The Twitter account of GM Praggnanandhaa, which has been diligently acknowledging all the congratulatory messages coming its way, also thanked Kamal Haasan and Sivakarthikeyan for their congratulatory messages.
A historic achievement!
— Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (@MIB_India) February 22, 2022
16-year old international Chess Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa defeated World No.1 @MagnusCarlsen at #AirthingsMasters Chess on 21st February, 2022.
📽️: Inspirational journey of the young Chess sensation.@rpragchess @Media_SAI @ianuragthakur @FIDE_chess pic.twitter.com/Hk4uu85UTY
It is worth mentioning here that despite this shocking upset, Magnus Carlsen finished 2nd in the final 8 of the round-robin prelims, securing his position with 25/45 points. Carlsen attributed the after-effects of COVID-19 to his form and said, "I will have to play a lot better in the knockouts. But atleast I'm there, which is the most important thing. I didn't expect to play particularly well, but I hoped to play better. But it doesn't matter now. I'm through and I have the chance to fight regardless of who I'm going to face."