Mumbai: Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa created a flutter early on Monday when he defeated world No. 1 and the reigning five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament.
Praggnanandhaa won with black pieces in 39 moves in a Tarrasch variation to halt Carlsenās run of three straight wins.
The 16-year-old Grandmaster from Chennai is only the third Indian to beat the Norwegian after Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna. But as luck would have it, his coach Grandmaster RB Ramesh missed the match.
Meanwhile, legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar on Monday congratulated 16-year-old Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa for defeating world champion, Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters – an online rapid chess competition.
Carlsen had racked up three wins in a row as he ominously cranked up the gears. But against 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa, he blundered badly, and the Indian star held firm for the win.
It was Praggnanandhaa’s first win in any form of chess against the Norwegian and came on the back of having lost three games in a row. Carlsen finished down in fifth – up from 11th on the leaderboard on Sunday.