One other event in 2025, one other defeat by the hands of an Indian for Magnus Carlsen. After dropping twice to world champion D Gukesh within the classical format at Norway Chess after which within the fast format on the SuperUnited Fast and Blitz Croatia event earlier this month, the World No 1 was handed a defeat by R Praggnanandhaa within the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour on Thursday.
In a group-stage conflict to find out the eight gamers who will struggle for the title within the ‘Higher Bracket’, Carlsen was on a roll at first of the occasion, profitable his first two video games and taking part in out a draw. Then, he bumped into Praggnanandhaa in his fourth sport, which resulted in a defeat in 39 strikes.
That began a sequence of outcomes for Carlsen that noticed him finish in fifth place within the eight-player group (known as Group White, with the opposite eight gamers in Group Black) which implies that Carlsen can not play for the title anymore on the Las Vegas event. At greatest, he can now end third.
Praggnanandhaa was forward on the eval bar from the tenth transfer itself when he rapidly pushed his pawn forward (10…b5?!). The Norwegian compounded his issues by leaping Praggnanandhaa’s knight together with his c file pawn (11…cxd4?!). Pragg’s second knight calmly hopped away from hazard, however discovered a sq. (12.Nf5) which made it as deadly as a sniper. In a sport the place gamers had 10 minutes on the clock at first, Carlsen had simply 3.24 minutes at this stage. However he spent 3.10 minutes attempting to extricate himself out of bother with out activating his queen.
INTERACTIVE: How Praggnanandhaa defeated Magnus Carlsen
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When Carlsen did discover a transfer, he was down to only 15 seconds on the clock having began with 30 further seconds than his opponent when he began pondering. It was a very deadly sq. from the place Praggnanandhaa may have hopped a knight to d6 and put Carlsen’s king and queen in a fork.
It was the start of the tip for Carlsen. Quickly, each queens have been off the board and Pragg was two pawns up with Carlsen’s king operating for canopy. There was none to be discovered.
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The Indian’s rooks moved round on the board, gobbling up Carlsen’s items like an enormous vacuum cleaner swallowing Lego items, protecting the Norwegian’s king on its toes.
The win over Carlsen was one of many highlights of Praggnanandhaa’s day as he topped Group White. The Norwegian ended fifth after dropping twice in tie-breaks to Levon Aronian in a while. In Group Black, Arjun Erigaisi ended fourth, which suggests he can contend for the title as a part of the Higher Bracket. The third Indian in fray on the occasion, Vidit Gujrathi, completed on the backside of Group Black.
Due to topping the group, Praggnanandhaa was supplied the chance to pick his opponent within the quarters. Somewhat than choosing Arjun, one in every of his closest mates on the tour, he opted to duel with Fabiano Caruana. This implies Arjun will face Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Vidit, in the meantime, finds himself taking over a wounded Carlsen.