Chennai: Indian chess grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa has finished the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Chessable Masters tournament today, after losing to World No. 2 ranked player Ding Liren in the finals.
The chess prodigy from India stormed into the finals after defeating Anish Giri in the semi-final match, having earned his second win over world no.1 Marcus Carlsen to reach the top eight.
The Chessable Masters is an online chess tournament played as a part of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.
It is pertinent to mention that the 16-year-old is only the third Indian chess player, who has defeated the world champion, Magnus Carlsen.
He is the youngest chess player to defeat the Norwegian, ever since the latter became the world champion. He beat Magnus yet again in the Chessables, before defeating world no. 10 Anish Giri and coming close to victory against Liren too.
Meanwhile, Praggnanandhaa has gotten a job offer in Indian oil. On Thursday, at a function graced by IOC chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya and the State head of IOC for TN and Puducherry V C Asokan, Praggnanandhaa was formally inducted and announced that he will join the service at the age of 18 on a tenure basis.
Praggnanandhaa received the tenure-based engagement letter from IOC chairman, who is currently writing his Standard 11 board exams while competing in the online Chessable Masters tournament.