Viswanathan Anand Lauds Praggnanandhaa On Beating Carlsen In Style; 'proud Of Our Talents'

India's first-ever chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand took to social media to congratulate R Praggnanandhaa on beating World No.1, Magnus Carlsen. "Always proud of our talents! Very good day for @rpragchess" Viswanathan Anand wrote. World champion Carlsen amazingly lost to Pragganandhaa with black pieces in 39 moves in a Tarrasch variation game

Praggnanandhaa beats Carlsen in 39 moves

16-year old R Praggnanandhaa made headlines after defeating World Number.1 Magnus Carlsen in 39 moves. However, overall in the Airthings Masters, Praggnanandhaa drew the first round with Le Quang Liem of Vietnam before he lost to Canadian Eric Hensen, Chinese Ding Liren and Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The next day, he started off with a draw against Dutch player Anish Giri before he lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan. He managed a win against America's Levon Aronian.

R Praggnanandhaa with this big win also become just the third Indian chess player to beat Carlsen after Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna.

'He takes the blows and does it his way': Viswanathan Anand on Praggnanandhaa

"What I really admire about him is that he takes the blows and does it his way, as the song goes. In Wijk aan Zee, he had some really tough blows but still fought and beat (Andrey) Esipenko in the last round. The first day in the current tournament was really bad for him but on the second day he came up with two very good wins. His fighting spirit is really something." Anand told ESPN.

"Before the pandemic, he was in a really good form and reached 2600 Elo rating at the age of 14. The long break in tournaments impacted him quite a bit, particularly in confidence," Praggnanandhaa's coach RB Ramesh said, "His results in the past six months has swung between extremes. In some games he has been playing like a 2750 player, in others, he's operating at a 2550 level. The fluctuation can be worrying and needs to be stabilised. This win against Magnus is important. Beating one of the strongest players in chess history is a huge moment for him." He further added.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik congratulates Praggnanandhaa

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was among the many who lauded the young chess player. "Congratulate young Indian Grandmaster R #Praggnanandhaa on his stunning victory over reigning World Champion GM #MagnusCarlsen during ongoing #AirthingsMasters Chess Tournament. Wish him all the best for the future," he tweeted.

Image: PTI