Indian Grand Master Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

The Match

Indian Grand Master Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu defeated world champion, Magnus Carlsen, for the second time in three months on Friday. Praggnanandhaa beat Carlsen in the 5th round of the Chessable Masters online rapid chess competition, keeping his playoff hope alive. The match between Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen was headed towards a draw when the latter committed a huge mistake that cost him the match. Praggnanandhaa is only the third Indian after Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna to beat Carlsen in a chess game. Carlsen misplayed his knight, a blunder that was quickly noticed by Praggnanandhaa, who wasted no time in declaring a check. After the match, Praggnanandhaa revealed that he was taking exams during the event. The 16-year-old further stated that he was not happy with his game quality and that he needs to be sharper.

"I’m not so thrilled about my game quality. I’m missing some stuff, some tricks, and some tactics so I need to be sharper," Praggnanandhaa said in his interview with Chess24."