24-year-old Indian Chess grandmaster Karthikeyan Murali has achieved the remarkable feat of defeating No.1 player Magnus Carlsen in classical chess at the ongoing Qatar Masters. As a result, he become only the 3rd player from the country to beat Carlsen. Murali held a sensational score of 5.5 out of 7 by emerging victorious in the classical chess format.
The youngster's win occurred in the 7th round of the tournament as he methodically defeated Carlsen to secure the biggest victory of his career. In the process, he joined the likes of SL Narayan, Javokhir Sindarov, David Paravyan, Arjun Erigaisi, and Nodirbek Yakubboev - all of whom boasts a score of 5.5 out of 7.
Hailing from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, Murali played astutely and compensated for the drawn result against Iran's Parham Maghsoodloo in the competition's 6th round.
Vishwanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna were the previous two Indians to beat Magnus Carlsen:
The previous two Indian players to have defeated the Norwegian were Vishwanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna. Anand got the better of Carlsen in 2015, but Harikrishna did so way back in 2005.
Carlsen created headlines in August when he beat Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in the final to secure the World Title. Despite losing, Praggnanandhaa received widespread accolades from athletes of different sports for taking the World No.1 player to his limit.
