FIDE World Cup 2023: R Praggnanandhaa's historic road to final

Baku, Aug 24: Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa settled for a silver medal in the FIDE World Cup 2023 by finishing as a runner-up on Thursday (August 24) in the prestigious tournament, carrying a prize money of $100,000.

The 18-year-old chess prodigy with his feat wrote a golden chapter in Indian chess history by becoming only the second player from the country after Viswanathan Anand, and the youngest ever, to play in the Chess World Cup final.

He even became the second Indian after Anand to book a ticket for FIDE Candidates, scheduled for next year. The Chennai boy lost the summit clash to Norway's world No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the tie-breaks after the classical games (both rounds) in the final ended in a draw. FIDE World Cup 2023 Final: R Praggnanandhaa loses to Magnus Carlsen

Praggnanandhaa's journey in 2023 FIDE World Cup:

*Got a bye in first round

*Defeated French Grandmaster Maxime Lagarde 1.5-0.5 in second round.

*Defeated experienced Czech GM David Navara 1.5-0.5 in third round.

*Defeated World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura of USA 3-1 in fourth round.

*Defeated Hungarian Ferenc Berkes 1.5-0.5 in fifth round.

*Registered a come-from-behind 5-4 win over compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in the sixth round.

*Prevailed over Italian-American Grandmaster, Fabiano Caruana, ranked third in the world, 3.5-2.5 in the semifinal to become the youngest to reach the summit clash of the World Cup.

*Game 1 of Final on August 22 ended in a draw after 35 moves.

*Game 2 of Final between Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen also ended in a quick draw in just 30 moves on August 23.

*Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen returned on Thursday to play in the shorter time control games, with the Indian losing in the tie-break.

The FIDE World Cup 2023 was held between July 29 and August 25 2023 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. In the Open tournament, 206 players were eligible to take part and 103 in the Women's event. There were eight rounds in the Open and seven in the Women's tournament.

Each round was played under a knock-out system, consisting of a 2-game match. In the case of a tie, the players played a rapid, and if necessary, a blitz tiebreak, until the winner was determined. The winners of the top three places in both sections qualified for the 2024 Candidates tournament.

In both events the time control for each game was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.

The prize fund for the entire event was 2.5 million US Dollars, with $1,834,000 in the Open and $676,250 in the Women's tournament. The 2023 FIDE World Cup had the largest prize fund for any chess tournament ever played.