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Indian Express
4 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
How Praggnanandhaa defeated Magnus Carlsen at Las Vegas Freestyle event
Another tournament in 2025, another defeat at the hands of an Indian for Magnus Carlsen. After losing twice to world champion D Gukesh in the classical format at Norway Chess and then in the rapid format at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament earlier this month, the World No 1 was handed a defeat by R Praggnanandhaa in the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour on Thursday. In a group-stage clash to determine the eight players who will fight for the title in the 'Upper Bracket', Carlsen was on a roll at the start of the event, winning his first two games and playing out a draw. Then, he ran into Praggnanandhaa in his fourth game, which resulted in a defeat in 39 moves. That started a series of results for Carlsen that saw him end in fifth place in the eight-player group (called Group White, with the other eight players in Group Black) which means that Carlsen cannot play for the title anymore at the Las Vegas tournament. At best, he can now finish third. Praggnanandhaa was ahead on the eval bar from the 10th move itself when he hastily pushed his pawn ahead (10…b5?!). The Norwegian compounded his problems by jumping Praggnanandhaa's knight with his c file pawn (11…cxd4?!). Pragg's second knight calmly hopped away from danger, but found a square ( which made it as lethal as a sniper. In a game where players had 10 minutes on the clock at the start, Carlsen had just 3.24 minutes at this stage. But he spent 3.10 minutes trying to extricate himself out of trouble without activating his queen. READ MORE: 'Karma is a …': Hans Niemann says in commentary as Magnus Carlsen loses and gets relegated to 'Lower Bracket' When Carlsen did find a move, he was down to just 15 seconds on the clock having started with 30 additional seconds than his opponent when he started thinking. It was a particularly lethal square from where Praggnanandhaa could have hopped a knight to d6 and put Carlsen's king and queen in a fork. It was the beginning of the end for Carlsen. Soon, both queens were off the board and Pragg was two pawns up with Carlsen's king running for cover. There was none to be found. The Indian's rooks moved around on the board, gobbling up Carlsen's pieces like a giant vacuum cleaner swallowing Lego pieces, keeping the Norwegian's king on its toes. The win over Carlsen was one of the highlights of Praggnanandhaa's day as he topped Group White. The Norwegian ended fifth after losing twice in tie-breaks to Levon Aronian later on. In Group Black, Arjun Erigaisi ended fourth, which means he can contend for the title as part of the Upper Bracket. The third Indian in fray at the event, Vidit Gujrathi, finished at the bottom of Group Black. Thanks to topping the group, Praggnanandhaa was offered the opportunity to select his opponent in the quarters. Rather than picking Arjun, one of his closest friends on the tour, he opted to duel with Fabiano Caruana. This means Arjun will face Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Vidit, meanwhile, finds himself taking on a wounded Carlsen.
Indian Express
09-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Like Gukesh now, a young Vishy Anand too faced criticism and was once dismissed by Soviet stars as a ‘coffee house player'
Over the last six months, almost on cue as India's D Gukesh started to make an audacious bid to ascend to the world champion's throne at the incredulous age of 18, there has been plenty of withering criticism flung in his direction. Almost like his entire chess style has been run through an X-ray machine by a team of unflinching experts determined to find every single problem with it. As chess legend Susan Polgar noted recently, 'Some have doubted his worthiness as a World Champion, and believed that he was just a lucky winner against an off-form Ding Liren.' The latest salvo fired at Gukesh, right before the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament, came from Magnus Carlsen, the five-time world champion and the foremost authority on the sport. The world no 1 questioned the reigning classical world champion's credentials in the faster time controls of rapid and blitz, saying that he would approach the three games against him as if he were 'playing one of the presumably weaker players in the tournament'. His reasoning for this was: 'Gukesh hasn't done anything to indicate he's going to do well in such a tournament. It remains to be proven that he's one of the best players in such a format. This is a very strong field that we have. Players like Gukesh have a lot to prove. In the course of 27 rounds, things usually show.' Throughout the world championship battle in November and December last year, Carlsen cast a constant shadow on the battle between Ding Liren and Gukesh with his scathing analysis of the games and the players' decisions on the board. At one point, he remarked: 'This looks like the second round or third round of an open tournament, not a world championship.' He wasn't the only former world champion constantly providing no-holds-barred critique of Gukesh's moves at the Singapore event. Vladimir Kramnik, the curmudgeonly former world champion, famously declared that it was the 'end of chess as we know it' on the day Gukesh made history by becoming the world champion at the age of 18. It must be noted that some of the critique is understandable. Before the recently-concluded event in Zagreb, Gukesh had limited rapid and blitz experience. And each time he ventured out of the comfort zone of classical chess, like at Freestyle Chess events, he suffered. But the criticism of Gukesh seems a little too direct, in-your-face. Maybe a little like the Australian cricket team under Ricky Ponting sledging their opponents. The teenager himself doesn't care much, though. As verbal knives continued to be sharpened against him after he became world champion, Gukesh coolly responded to the criticism by saying: 'When you reach the World Championship, you are bound to face criticism, and people are free to say whatever they want.' He's taken the same approach over the past few months. After Carlsen's comment about treating him as one of the weaker players in the field at Zagreb, the Indian responded: 'I understand why (Carlsen) would think so, my rapid and blitz results in the past have not been great. But nobody knows what's happening behind the scenes. Only I know that.' Gukesh had a hint of a smile when he said that. Just a day before, he had handed the world no 1 a defeat in the rapid format after all. The criticism that Gukesh has been getting in the past one year is nothing new. Just over four decades back, in the start of the 90s, when another young buck from Chennai was on the rise in the sport, he too would get acerbic comments from Soviet Union players, who thought that they had a monopoly on success in the sport. 'In 1991, at my first international tournament, in Reggio Emilia in northern Italy, a Russian grandmaster condescendingly told me I could at best be a 'coffee-house player' because I had not been tutored in the Soviet school of chess,' Viswanathan Anand had written in an article for TIME magazine in 2008. Of course, 1991 was the year that Anand beat Soviet Union stars like Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Gata Kamsky and Viktor Korchnoi. He won the Reggio Emilia title as well that year, leaving behind nine Soviet players like Kasparov and Karpov. That Reggio Emilia event started in 1991 and ended in 1992. And over the course of the tournament many things changed. The Soviet Union disintegrated into many different nations. And Anand went from being described as a 'talent' by the Soviet players to being called other uncharitable things. Because now the boy from India who played classical games at blitz pace was a problem. After nine of them saw the only non-Soviet player emerge as the champion at Reggio Emilia, the Soviets pulled out their old playbook: to undermine the player and his achievements. Reggio Emilia was a Category 18 tournament, which back then meant that it was an event with the strongest field ever assembled. After Anand's win, Karpov tried to talk down the strength of the event itself, by saying, 'The thing about categories is that, I never find that very interesting.' A sentiment he probably wouldn't have shared with the world had he won the event. As Anand recently recollected in a conversation for the New In Chess podcast, a few months after that event he was in Dortmund for a tournament and had dinner with another non-Soviet player. Anand told him how Korchnoi had been saying that 'Anand doesn't think but just plays some tricks'. At this, the other player is said to have remarked, 'Korchnoi praises me to the skies. That's because he beats me all the time. You should enjoy it (the criticism) while it lasts.' Anand said that while people around him were offended by the comments being made about him, he was not too unnerved. 'I'd done it myself a few times to others,' he recounted on the podcast. The change in tone from his rivals did come with realisations. 'It was at this point that I realised that 'talent' is a word people use to describe you when they want to express good-hearted empathy. It merely reflects that you are not yet a threat to their dominance or their prize fund flow. It's when they trash-talk you — like they did after my surprise coup in Italy — that you know you're respected. Maybe even feared,' Anand wrote in his autobiography 'Mind Master'. The 'coffee house player' jibe — used for someone that's not professional about the sport and experiments a lot — wasn't the only pejorative that Anand heard about himself in his earliest days. He's been paid some creative backhanded compliments. Like when Anatoly Karpov, after the 1998 World Championship, told a journalist, within crystal-clear earshot of the Indian and his wife Aruna: 'Vishy's a nice guy. But he just doesn't have the character for a big win.' This 'nice guy' stereotype is also something that all Indian world-beating prodigies like Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi today can be accused of. Fabiano Caruana recently noted how the new generation of players (spearheaded by the Indian trio) were playing 'at their level, but he didn't find them scary yet.' (As an aside, Caruana, a player with the most stable quality of chess without too many fluctuations recently lost thrice in three games to Gukesh at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz tournament). In his autobiography, Anand spoke about this 'nice guy' stereotype: 'There are people who thrive in an atmosphere of combat, tension and conflict, but that hasn't been my strongest suit. Generally, my best results come when I am happy and my mind is not occupied with external diversions. This has perhaps led people to assume I am a pushover,' Anand wrote. Anand also pointed out that when he became world champion in Tehran in 2000, the chess world was 'dismissive' of his first world title. 'I wasn't entirely certain whether they adopted this stance to get me ruffled or they genuinely believed that I was undeserving of this distinction.' All of these emotions — being praised as a talent and then being trash-talked publicly, avoiding verbal conflict, seeing the world be dismissive of his success — that Anand experienced in the early 90s, Gukesh is probably feeling now. And just like Anand was advised in 1992, the best thing for the teenager to do is to enjoy the criticism while it lasts. Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
'My B-game is usually enough' - Magnus Carlsen takes a swipe at competitors after winning SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz
Magnus Carlsen reacts during his game against D Gukesh at the Super United Rapid and Blitz tournament in Zagreb, Croatia. (Image via X/@Grand ChessTour) In the recent past, Magnus Carlsen has been in the news more than the titles he has won, it is more about his comments. After winning the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament on Sunday, Magnus again dropped one of his bombshells taking a swipe at his fellow competitors. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough. Always striving for more though!,' Carlsen posted after the win. When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough. Always striving for more though! — Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) July 6, 2025 After the win Carlsen had said that he is playing chess like an old man approach. "I felt that I struggled most of the event. Partly because it was a very strong field this year," Carlsen had said on Sunday. "There weren't a lot of weaker players at all. It wasn't obvious who was going to score poorly and who was going to score well against the others. "It felt like, especially in rapid, chances were kind of hard to come by. I had one good day yesterday (the first day of blitz section on Saturday) and that turned out to be enough. 'It speaks to the fact that it was a fairly even tournament overall. Nobody could really break away from the pack. "It doesn't feel like I won. It feels like I just came here and played alright. Nobody really did anything special in the end. Then I usually end up winning,' he added. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Esta nueva alarma con cámara es casi regalada en Villa Rosa (ver precio) Verisure Más información Undo Carlsen has never minced words. In recent times, 19-year-old world champion Gukesh has found himself in the Norwegian's crosshairs, perhaps unintentionally, but tellingly. From downplaying his credentials as World Champion to doubting Gukesh's acumen in faster formats, Carlsen has raised subtle but sharp questions. Although Carlsen eventually clinched the Norway Chess title earlier this year, it was Gukesh who rattled the home favourite on his own turf, enough to make the Scandinavian bang the table in frustration, a moment that quickly grabbed social media's attention. Ahead of the Zagreb tournament, Carlsen struck again, remarking: "Gukesh hasn't done anything to indicate that he's going to do well in such a tournament." Many, including the 34-year-old, expected Gukesh's perceived shortcomings in quicker formats to be exposed again. Instead, the 19-year-old beat Carlsen, led the rapid section and finished third overall in Croatia. Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu's inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
United News of India
07-07-2025
- Sport
- United News of India
Gukesh Settles for Strategic Third; Carlsen Triumphs with playful Display in Zagreb
New Delhi, July 7 (UNI) The highly anticipated individual showdown between World Champion Gukesh and World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia concluded abruptly with a 14-move draw, lasting barely over a minute. Even Carlsen expressed surprise at the swift end to their final personal encounter. This quick draw stands in stark contrast to their initial clash in the Zagreb tournament's rapid format, where Gukesh defied expectations by defeating the five-time World Champion. That victory propelled the youngest classical World Champion to the top of the leaderboard after the rapid section. Gukesh's dominant rapid play even drew high praise from former World Champion Garry Kasparov, who remarked that "playing Gukesh was like playing a computer because you needed to beat him five times in each game." However, the blitz portion of the event, which began on Saturday, has seen Gukesh face a series of defeats, including an earlier loss to Carlsen in their first blitz game. Their Sunday draw in Round 13 of the blitz segment was remarkably swift, lasting just one minute and four seconds. At the time of the draw agreement, Gukesh remarkably had more time on his clock (5:10) than when he started, while Carlsen had 4:45. UNI XC AAB BM
Indian Express
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Magnus Carlsen posts after Zagreb win: ‘When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough'
After winning the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament on Sunday, Magnus Carlsen said on X that his B Game was enough for the victory in this tournament due to the other participants also not having the best of times. Carlsen was trailing tournament leader Gukesh by four points after the three-day-long rapid section, but ended up winning by a 2.5-point lead over the rest of the field after the 18 games of blitz over the weekend. 'When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough. Always striving for more though!,' Carlsen posted after the win. When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough. Always striving for more though! — Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) July 6, 2025 Playing what Carlsen himself described as 'survival' chess using an 'old man's chess' approach, he did considerably well to outscore a formidable field for his 10th Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz title out of 12 appearances. 'I felt that I struggled most of the event. Partly because it was a very strong field this year. There weren't a lot of weaker players at all. It wasn't obvious who was going to score poorly and who was going to score well against the others. It felt like, especially in rapid, chances were kind of hard to come by. I had one good day yesterday (the first day of blitz section on Saturday) and that turned out to be enough,' Carlsen said on Sunday after the win. 'It speaks to the fact that it was a fairly even tournament overall. Nobody could really break away from the pack. It doesn't feel like I won. It feels like I just came here and played alright. Nobody really did anything special in the end. Then I usually end up winning,' he added. Despite Carlsen saying multiple times during the event that he was struggling with his 'flow', he lost just one rapid game (the infamous loss to Gukesh) and one blitz game (to Nodirbek Abdusattorov) in the 27 games.
