R Praggnanandhaa Registers Second Win Against Magnus Carlsen in 2022

R Praggnanandhaa had won against Magnus Carlsen in February, earlier this year.

R Praggnanandhaa defeated Magnus Carlsen for a second time in 2022 

Image: R Praggnanandhaa/Twitter 

Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa stunned the World Champion Magnus Carlsen again, registering his second win against the Norwegian this year.

The two players met in the fifth round of the Chessable Masters online rapid chess tournament on Friday and Praggnanandhaa kept his chances alive of progressing to the knockout stage after the win over Carlsen.

Praggnanandhaa took advantage of a blunder from Carlsen to press home his advantage on Friday, even though the game seemed to be heading towards a draw. Carlsen had misplaced a black knight which opened the door for the Indian Grand Master.

Praggnanandhaa later revealed that he was taking school exams during the event in an interview to Chess24.

“I’m not so thrilled about my game quality. I’m missing some stuff, some tricks, and some tactics so I need to be sharper," he said.

The 16-year-old Indian chess ace took his tally to 12 points while Carlsen was 2nd on the points table. USA's Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest Grand Master in the world, is also part of the 16-man tournament.

The World number 1 however bounced back quickly and won his next match of the day against Abhimanyu Mishra. Praggnanandhaa followed up with a draw against fellow Indian Pentala Harikrishna and then beat the Englishman, Gawain Jones, to rise up to second on the leaderboard.

Praggnanandhaa had defeated Carlsen in February at Airthings Masters, an online rapid chess tournament and had won playing with black pieces. On Friday, at the Chessable Masters, the Indian was playing with white pieces. Before Praggnanandhaa, only the legendary Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna had won against the Norwegian. However, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest to do so since the Norwegian became world champion in 2013.

Praggnanandhaa had told CNN after the 39-move victory playing black earlier this year (February) that, “I usually I don’t celebrate things too much because, OK, this is just a win, and it’s just one win, and it’s a rapid game, so there are a lot more things to do and a lot more things to work on.”

Among the other Indians in the fray, Harikrishna was in the 7th spot with 11 points with two wins, five draws, and one defeat. Vidit Gujarathi was in 13th position with eight points from one win, five draws, and two defeats.