FIDE World Cup 2023 Final: R Praggnanandhaa plays a draw with Magnus Carlsen in round one

Baku (Azerbaijan), Aug 22: The first game of the FIDE World Cup chess tournament final between Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa and world number one Magnus Carlsen ended in a draw here on Tuesday (August 22).

The round one of the final between Praggnanandhaa - playing in whites - and Carlsen - playing with Black - ended in a draw after 35 moves. Carlsen - the five-time title winner - will be White in Wednesday's second classical game.

After round one, Praggnanandhaa reflected upon his performance and claimed he never found himself in trouble in the entire game against the Norwegian. "It'll be a fight. He'll definitely push very hard. I'll try to rest and come fresh, I think that's the best I can do," the Indian told FIDE after the match.

Carlsen revealed he was in bad shape after the semi-final after suffering food poisoning and could hardly eat in the last couple of days but that also meant he kept calm.

"Normally, I would just probably have a bit of an advantage having a rest day while he had to play a tough tiebreak yesterday, but I've been in a pretty rough shape the last couple of days. I got some food poisoning after the game against Abasov. I haven't been able to eat for the last two days. This also meant that I was really calm cause I had no energy to be nervous," Carlsen told FIDE at the end of round one.

Earlier on Monday, the Chennai-led stunned world No.3 Fabiano Caruana 3.5-2.5 via the tie-break in the semifinals to set up a summit clash with Carlsen of Norway. After the two-game classical series ended 1-1, the 18-year-old Indian prodigy outlasted the highly-rated American GM in a battle of wits in a nerve-wracking tie-breaker.

Carlsen beat Azerbaijan's Nijat Abasov 1.5-0.5 in the semi-final. Praggnanandhaa became the third youngest player after the legendary Bobby Fischer and Carlsen to qualify for the Candidates tournament.

More to follow...