FIDE World Cup 2023: Praggnanandhaa beats World No. 3 Caruana in tie-breaks, to face Magnus Carlsen in final

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Baku, Aug 21: Indian Chess prodigy Rameshbabu Pragnnanandhaa stormed into the finals of the ongoing FIDE World Cup to set up a summit clash with reigning world number one Magnus Carlsen.

The 18-year-old Pragnnandhaa - who has been going through phenomenal form in the ongoing competition - defeated World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana of USA 3.5-2.5 in tiebreaks in the semifinal.

The Indian Grand Master on Sunday (August 20) had drawn the second game of the FIDE World Cup semifinal against the American GM to push the contest into a tie-break. The Chennai-lad tied the two-match classical series against Caruana 1-1 and forced the match to enter tiebreaks.

The match between Praggnanandhaa and Caruana ended in a stalemate in 47 moves on Sunday. While Carlsen, who had won the first game on Saturday, settled for a draw in 74 moves against Azerbaijan player Nijat Abasov to book his spot in the final.

Reflecting on his performance in the tournament and having officially qualified for the Candidates, Praggnanandhaa said, "It feels really good to qualify for the Candidates; I really wanted to fix this spot."

Speaking about his game and the highly-anticipated final against Carlsen - who is one of the best the game of chess has ever had - Praggnanandhaa said, "I didn't expect to play Magnus in this tournament at all because the only way I could play him was in the final, and I didn't expect to be in the final. I will just try to give my best and see how it goes!"

The Indian GM has defeated the Norwegian superstar in blitz and rapids in the past but prevailing over the world number one in classical will take some effort for the Chennai-lad, but he has been a giant killer in the tournament.

Praggnanandhaa will feature in the Candidates' tournament next year as the top three finishers in the tournament qualify for the Candidates' event in 2024 to determine the challenger to Ding Liren.

Magnus Carlsen is already in the FIDE World Cup finals

Carlsen - the world number one and one of the title favourites for the $110,000 prize money - booked his spot in the final after defeating local favourite GM Nijat Abasov by a margin of 1.5/2.

Abasov played a near-perfect game on Sunday to keep himself alive in the world cup. However, Carlsen showed his class and drew the game to not just book a spot in the final but also earn a rest day ahead of the big finale. With this win, the Norwegian superstar made it to the World Cup final for the first time and will be aiming to stamp his authority on the board.

Praggnanandhaa, on the other hand, became only the second Indian ever to qualify for the semifinals of the World Cup after the legendary Viswanathan Anand. He now has a chance to script history and join Anand in an elite club.

"Pragg goes through to the final! He beats Fabiano Caruana in the tiebreak and will face Magnus Carlsen now. What a performance," wrote Anand the five-time world champion on his handle on X.