Chess World Cup 2023: Praggnanandhaa loses to Magnus Carlsen in the tiebreaker

Praggnanandhaa's dream of winning the Chess World Cup 2023 was shattered as Norway's five times world champion Magnus Carlsen defeated the 18-year-old grandmaster in the first tiebreaker of the final on Thursday. Praggnanandhaa is the youngest player to play in the World Cup final.

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In the Chess World Cup 2023 final, the first two rounds did not go through and both games ended in a draw. The winner of the World Cup was decided on Thursday via a tiebreaker, with Carlsen winning the first 25-minute rapid game. The second game ended in a draw and Carlsen managed to win the World Cup for the first time since 2021.

In the first rapid game, the 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa put up a good fight against veteran Carlsen and at one stage the first game seemed to be going away, but the pressure of the last five minutes and Carlsen's experience quickly turned everything around. And once Praggnanandhaa lost in the opening game of the tiebreaker of this title match that everything went out of his hands from here on.

In the second game, Praggnanandhaa was playing with the black pieces. It was a do or die game for him as the first game went to Carlsen. The Indian youth has started the game after praying for a while. Both the players lost one knight each at the beginning of the second game. But the effect of defeat in the first game was clearly visible on Praggnanandhaa. And in terms of time, Carlsen took an edge over the Indian player. Even before the completion of half time of the second innings, the Indian youth agreed to the draw. And with this, Norway's five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen won Chess World Cup 2023 title. 

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Earlier, India's Praggnanandhaa had defeated world no three Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals via a tiebreak. After that, he made it to the Chess World Cup 2023 final. Significantly, he has confirmed his place in the Candidates Tournament 2024. Moreover, Praggnanandhaa became the third youngest player to reach the prestigious tournament after Carlsen and Bobby Fischer. He will also be the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to play in the candidates.