The FIDE World Cup was won by Magnus Carlsen on Thursday in Baku, Azerbaijan, after the Indian prodigy R Praggnanandhaa was defeated 1.5-0.5 in the tie-break. This prevented him from repeating his recent feats of giant-killing. The world No. 1 defeated Praggnanandhaa, ending his tournament run, after the traditional games finished in a draw. This was the first World Cup championship for five-time World Champion and Norwegian sensation Carlsen, who has been dominating the sport for more than a decade.
After winning the initial 25+10 tie-break game, Carlsen chose to play it cautiously, showcasing his superior end-game abilities. The game concluded in a draw after 22 moves. Due to the draws in the two traditional games played on Tuesday and Wednesday, a tie-break was necessary to determine the winner.
With his incredible recovery in the tie-break, Carlsen, who had been feeling under the weather owing to stomach sickness and did not seem his best in the opening classical game, demonstrated why he is so difficult to beat.
In the first tie-break game, he defeated his 18-year-old Indian opponent after a tough fight, prevailing in 45 moves.
The players were eventually down to their two remaining rooks and minor pieces—two knights for Carlsen, and a knight and a light-colored bishop for Praggnanandhaa. Due to time constraints, the Indian made a blunder and surrendered after realising the game was over.
Carlsen started with e4 in the second game. After Praggnanandhaa took a second piece with the queen on the ninth move, there was the first exchange where the sport’s top player took a pawn.
After the final, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand posted on the social networking platform “X, “Praggnanandhaa can come back with a candidates spot and a truly wonderful result.”
He expressed his wishes to Carlsen and wrote: “In the end, it’s Magnus! His persistence is rewarded with a victory in the only tournament that eluded him so far! Congratulations to the #FIDEWorldCup2023 winner Magnus Carlsen!”
The Indian player’s coach R B Ramesh mentioned on ‘X’: Congratulations @MagnusCarlsen for a well deserved World Cup title! Well done @rpragchess! Lots of good memories and some hard lessons as well. Onward !”
Praggnanandhaa had a remarkable campaign, winning matches over Hikaru Nakamura, the world’s No. 2, and Fabiano Caruana, the No. 3 player in the world, to advance to the championship match against Carlsen.
In addition, Praggnanandhaa qualified for the Candidates tournament as the third-youngest player, behind only the great Bobby Fischer and Carlsen.
