Indian chess prodigy Praggnanandhaa on Monday stunned world No. 3 Fabiano Caruana in the World Cup semifinal 10+10 tiebreaks match to storm his way into the final where he will play against Magnus Carlsen.
The 18-year-old beat Fabiano Caruana, the third highest rated chess player ever, 3.5-2.5 after tiebreaks to reach the summit clash.
This is the first time Carlsen will play against Praggnanandhaa in the Chess World Cup final. Praggnanandhaa had also confirmed his qualification for the 2024 Candidates Tournament.
"I didn't expect to play Magnus in this tournament at all because the only way I could play him was in the final, and I didn't expect to be in the final…
"I will just try to give my best and see how it goes!," the Chennai-born Grandmaster said after the semifinal.
"This match, just goes to my defensive skills. I was almost losing in every single game. Losing is maybe a hard word. I was defending throughout and in the opening cases I had to suffer," Praggnanandhaa said.
Praggnanandhaa took down the world no. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and the world no. 3 Fabiano Caruana to reach a World Cup final against world no. 1 Carlsen.
After the two-game classical series ended 1-1, the 18-year-old Indian prodigy outlasted the highly-rated American GM in a battle of wits in a nerve-wracking tie-breaker.
"Pragg goes through to the final! He beats Fabiano Caruana in the tiebreak and will face Magnus Carlsen now. What a performance!," chess legend Viswanathan Anand posted on 'X', formerly Twitter.
