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.

Also Read: Praggnanandhaa-Carlsen Game 2 Drawn in the Chess World Cup 2023: The Final Moves to Tie-Breakers

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.

19-year-old Divya Deshmukh has won the FIDE Women’s World Cup title. She won this title by defeating India's Koneru Humpy in the tie-break round in the final. By becoming the world champion, she has also become India's 88th Grandmaster.

Also Read: Divya Deshmukh Becomes First Indian Champion of FIDE Women's World Cup After Dramatic Tiebreak Victory

India's 4th female Grandmaster

Divya, originally from Nagpur (Maharashtra), became India’s fourth female Grandmaster after Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and R. Vaishali and the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women’s World Cup, securing her GM title. She is also the 44th female to get a Grandmaster title.

Divya beats some heavyweights

Divya handed defeats to some of the biggest names in the chess fraternity for the biggest title of her career. The 2024 World Junior Champion beat the likes of Zhu Jiner, Harika, and former World Champion Tan Zhongyi to come through a very tough bracket before beating India No. 1 Humpy.

Also Read: Divya Deshmukh Becomes First Indian Champion of FIDE Women's World Cup After Dramatic Tiebreak Victory

13th Grandmaster from Maharashtra

Divya didn’t have a single GM norm ahead of the World Cup, nor did she meet the required rating (a standard 2500) to be eligible for the coveted title but her World Cup win helped her circumvent all the usual FIDE requirements as she becomes the latest Grandmaster of India, and the 13th from Maharashtra.

Indian Chess Grandmasters Full List

India has produced a total of 88 GMs, with the addition of Divya, ranking fifth in the world in terms of the sheer number of GMs produced per country.

Also Read: List of Chess World Champions from 1886 to 2024

Let's have a look at the 88 Indian Chess Grandmasters list.

Divya Deshmukh has made history by defeating fellow Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy in the tiebreaks of the FIDE Women’s World Cup Final, becoming the first-ever Indian champion of this prestigious tournament. The 19-year-old prodigy clinched the title with a score of 2.5-1.5 in a gripping rapid tiebreak series, marking a groundbreaking milestone in Indian chess.

The championship match between Deshmukh and Humpy delivered high drama, with both players tied 1-1 after two classical games. This set the stage for rapid tiebreaks — two games with a 10-minute clock and a 10-second increment per move.

• Rapid Game 1: With the white pieces, Divya pressed hard from the start, forcing Humpy to spend time on defence. Despite a tense exchange and a late blunder, the contest ended in a draw after both players navigated a complex queen endgame.

• Rapid Game 2: The pressure mounted as Humpy faced severe time trouble, and Deshmukh capitalised on a late mistake to tip the balance. After a string of accurate moves, Divya forced resignation on move 75, securing a historic win and the championship crown.

Read Also: List of Chess World Champions from 1886 to 2024

Record-Breaking Feats

Both Deshmukh and Humpy had already created history by reaching the final — the first time two Indian women have contested for the title in this event. With her triumph, Divya not only claimed the trophy and $50,000 in prize money, but she will also be promoted to Grandmaster, becoming India's 88th GM.

Read Also: 9-year-old Aarit Kapil becomes the youngest Indian chess player to defeat Grandmaster

How the Final Unfolded

Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra has praised 18-year-old chess grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa for becoming the runners-up in the FIDE Chess World Cup 2023. Neeraj said that he is very proud of Praggnanandhaa as the Indian prodigy played very well against Magnus Carlsen at such a young age.

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

Neeraj Chopra is currently competing in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. He qualifies for the javelin throw final with a massive throw of 88.77m. Before going to the javelin throw event, he gave this bite to the reporters. He is also proud for the Chandrayan 3.

Question to Neeraj- do you take inspiration from Chandrayaan Mission?
Neeraj- Yes. All Indians are proud of ISRO. Also very proud of Praggnanandhaa. He played very well against Magnus Carlsen pic.twitter.com/uU4LeCQOoO

— jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) August 25, 2023

Also Read: World Athletics Championships 2023: Neeraj Chopra enters final with a throw of 88.77m; qualifies for the Paris 2024

Indian chess sensation R Praggnanandhaa's remarkable journey ended with a final defeat as he finished as the runner-up at the 2023 Chess World Cup in Azerbaijan's Baku, after losing the tiebreaks against Magnus Carlsen. Earlier the two played out draws in the two classical games. The 18-year-old Indian grandmaster lost the match 7-5, but his performance was praised by many as a sign of his immense talent.

Though Praggnanandhaa could not beat Carlsen, he has his chin up as he defeated many high-ranked opponents on his way to the finals, including world no. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and no. 3 Fabiano Caruana. Praggnanandhaa also secured a ticket to the FIDE Candidates tournament that will start from April 2 to 25, 2024, in Toronto, Canada by winning the silver medal.

After over one hour of intense competition, R Praggnanandhaa and world No.1 Magnus Carlsen drew the second game of the Chess World Cup Final. From the very first move, it was visible that Carlsen was playing for a draw. It was his clear intention to take the game to the tie-breakers on Thursday. Even Indian chess legend predicted earlier that Carlsen was going for a draw. Commentators said that Carlsen's tactic was due to the reason that he had been suffering from food poisoning. It could be the reason for him to carry the match on the third day to gain maximum fitness and concentration. Both Grandmasters are eyeing their maiden World Cup title.

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Chess World Cup 2023 Final: Praggnanandhaa-Carlsen Game 2

Carlsen was low on energy on Tuesday due to the illness. There were some aggressive moves during the 30-move Game 2. The queens came off and rooks were sacrificed toward the end. In the tie-breaker, the two players will play two games in a rapid format with a time control of 10 minutes for each player and a 10-second increment for each move.

If a winner is still not decided, two more rapid games will be played with a time control of 5 minutes and a 3-second increment of each move. If the score is still a draw, then the final will be played in a sudden-death mode.

"Yeah, in a way (easy day). I guess we both were okay with a draw. We move on to the tie-breaks. When he took on D4 very early, I knew at that moment that it was going to be easy. It was supposed to be nothing for white. It had all the making of a draw," Praaggnanandhaa told FIDE after the second game.