Indian Praggnanandhaa and World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen’s first game in the FIDE World Cup final resulted in a draw after 35 moves. Playing with white pieces, Pragg had the advantage in time at the beginning of the game but was unable to maintain it, eventually running out of time himself.
Today’s second game of the championship will include both players again. By defeating World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana on Monday in the semifinal tie-break, Praggnanandhaa qualified for a championship match against Carlsen at the FIDE World Cup.
After the illustrious Bobby Fischer and Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa qualified for the Candidates tournament by reaching the final. He was the third youngest player to do so.
After the game, Carlsen revealed that he had endured a couple of rough days in Baku after suffering a bout of food poisoning after his semi-final win over Nijat Abasov.
After Viswanathan Anand, Praggnanandhaa became the sole representative of his nation to make it to the World Cup final, and he has already qualified for the Candidates competition in 2024.
In the other game of the day to decide the third-place finisher, Azerbaijan’s Nijat Abasov defeated Caruana to take a 1-0 lead in their contest.