India's 16-year-old GM R Praggnanandhaa stuns world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen

Airthings Masters: R Praggnanandhaa defeated world no.1 Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round with black pieces in 39 moves.

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa. (Source: Twitter)

Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa stunned world no 1 Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters, an online rapid chess tournament. Praggnanandhaa won with black pieces in 39 moves in a Tarrasch variation game early on Monday to halt Carlsen's run of three straight wins.

The Indian GM lies in joint 12th spot after eight rounds with eight points. His spectacular win over Carlsen comes after a moderate run in the earlier rounds, which included a solitary victory over Lev Aronian, two draws and four defeats. He drew against Anish Giri and Quang Liem Le and lost to Eric Hansen, Ding Liren, Jan-Kryzstof Duda and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Little past 2am in India on Monday, 16 yr-old GM R Praggnanandhaa had one of the biggest moments of his young career so far. A win with Black over world champion Magnus Carlsen in the Airthings Masters, a 16-player online rapid tournament. Massive for Pragg! #AirthingsMasters pic.twitter.com/7kCnS1xsAg — Susan Ninan (@ninansusan) February 21, 2022

Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi, who lost the world championship match a few months ago to the Norwegian world no 1 Carlsen, is on top of the standings with 19 points followed by Ding Liren and Hansen (both on 15 points).

In the Airthings Masters, a 16-player online rapid tournament, a player gets three points for a win and one for a draw in the preliminary rounds. Seven more rounds remain in the preliminary phase.

Who is R Praggnanandhaa?

* A chess prodigy, he is the fifth-youngest person ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM), behind Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D and Javokhir Sindarov.

* Praggnanandhaa won the World Youth Chess Championships Under-8 title in 2013, earning him the title of FIDE Master at the age of 7. He won the Under-10 title in 2015.

* In 2016, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest international master in history, at the age of 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days.

* In April 2021, Praggnanandhaa won the Polgar Challenge, the first leg (out of four) of the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, a rapid online event organized by Julius Baer Group and Chess24.com for young talents.

* Praggnanandhaa played in the Masters section of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022, winning games against Andrey Esipenko, Vidit Gujrathi and Nils Grandelius, finishing in 12th place with a final score of 5.5 points.

(with PTI inputs)