The adolescent Indian Grand Master Rameshbabu Pragggnanandhaa gave a significant statement on the freestyle chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas and defeated World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen on Wednesday Wednesday. In what many call the performance defining a career, 19 -year -old dismantled the Norwegian large in just 39 movements and strengthened his growing figure on the global chess scene and continued his worrying trend for Carlsen against the Indian new generation of stars.
Pragggnanandhaa, who played with white pieces, dominated the game from start to finish and recorded a remarkable accuracy of 93.9%, compared to an unusually low 84.9%Carlsen. The match, played in the 10 -minute + 10 -second addition format, saw Pragggnanandhaa Outlaver Carlsen with confidence and calmly to see against the five -time World Championship. The victory not only gave him the only lead in the White group at that time, but also added another chapter to his growing heritage, now defeating Carlsen in all three main time formats: classic, fast and blitz.
“Right now I like freestyle more than classic,” Pragggnanandhaa said in an interview after the game, his relaxed tone underlines maturity and fearlessness with whom he approached the match. Las Vegas Foot Grand Slam is particularly symbolic because it is a tournament co -founded by Carlsen, based on the innovative Freestyle (Chess960). This caused the Indian victory even more when it was played by the creator of the tournament on his own lawn.
Carlsen’s descending spiral in vegas
Carlsen’s campaign in Las Vegas began firmly with her back victory over Vincent Kemer and Levon Aronian, but the wheels came out in the middle of the group phase. After drew in the 3rd round against Javokhir Sindarova, there was a loss for Pragnanandhaa in 4 laps about a turning point. Then he suffered from another defeat in the 5th round, this time to the American GM Wesley, followed by a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the 6th round.
Although it ended the group scene with a victory over Kazakhstan’s Bibisar Assaubayeva, Carlsen’s sum of four points was not enough to avoid play -off against Aronian for the final knockout instead of White. In the unexpected reversal, Carlsen lost both playoff games, finished fifth and collapsed before the quarterfinals-antepically premature departure for players, which was widely considered the greatest of all time.
Indian mixed wealth
Pragggnanandhaa eventually ended up at the top of the White with 4.5 points, tied to Sindarov and Abdusattorov, but forward to Tiebreaks. His victory over Carlsen, Keymer and Assubayeva, in combination with draws against SO and Sindarov, proved enough to seal his advance to the championship holder. Meanwhile, the Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi advanced from the Black group and placed third behind Hikaru Nakamura and Hans Niemann. But seeing Gujrathi soon stepped out of the tournament and ended up in the same group for the last time.
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Published:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
July 17, 2025
