‘Bahut achhaa khele tum, shabash’ – Fans rally behind R Praggnanandhaa as he finishes runner-up in FIDE Chess World Cup 2023

After a wait of two days, India’s rising teenage prodigy, R Praggnanandhaa has lost the final of the Chess World Cup against Magnus Carlson. On the first day of the game, both players played a draw. This meant that the interest of the fans in the game also increased. Apart from this, the Chess fraternity was in disbelief as the veteran was held for a draw.

After the original day’s play (August 23), the Indian prodigy said that he realised Carlson wasn’t well. For the unversed, the Norwegian was ill and understood his game plan. He added that he was exhausted and was aware of the fact that Magnus won’t settle for a draw.

“I realised he was not well. I didn’t really think that he would go for a quick draw today, but I realised when he went for this line that he wanted to make a draw; I was also fine with that. I also feel exhausted, as I said in the previous interviews. Now I can just give everything tomorrow and relax after that,” Praggnanandhaa said.

R Praggnanandhaa loses the tie-breaker final

After the first day, both players played two rapid games of 25+10 time control. If these games couldn’t separate a winner, then they would have played two blitz games of 5+3 time control will be played. If it’s still a draw, then a sudden-death blitz match of 3+2 will be played until the winner is decided.

As it turned out, a stunning late burst from the Norwegian as he outsmarted Pragg in their first meeting rapid game over the board. This meant that another draw would have won Carlsen another World Cup. Playing against the odds, the 18-year-old India player lost in the 25+10 game.

This is how Twitter reacted