Sachin Tendulkar congratulates R Praggnanandhaa on defeating Magnus Carlsen; 'You've made India proud'

Ishika Feb 23, 2022 409 0

Legendary Sachin Tendulkar congratulated R Praggnanandhaa after the 16-year-old Indian Grandmaster defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters, which is an online rapid chess competition. Praggnanandhaa became only the third Indian after Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna to beat Carlsen and Tendulkar extended wishes to the prodigy, saying he has made India proud.Tendulkar also wished Praggnanandhaa a "successful" chess career ahead. The Chennai-born talent achieved the feat with black pieces in 39 moves in a Tarrasch variation game."What a wonderful feeling it must be for Pragg. All of 16, and to have beaten the experienced & decorated Magnus Carlsen, and that too while playing black, is magical! Best wishes on a long & successful chess career ahead. You've made India proud," Tendulkar tweeted.

Praggnanandhaa won with black pieces in 39 moves in a Tarrasch variation game early on Monday to halt Carlsen's run of three straight wins."I am delighted to have beaten Carlsen. It will give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the tournament and future also," Praggnanandhaa, 16, told news agency PTI. "I have to focus on the upcoming matches. After the match I just wanted to rest."Earlier, the Indian registered a solitary win versus Levon Aronian along with recording two draws and four defeats. He drew against Anish Giri and Quang Liem Le and lost to Eric Hansen, Ding Liren, Jan-Kryzstof Duda and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In the Airthings Masters, a 16-player online rapid tournament, a player gets three points for a win and one for a draw in the preliminary rounds.Praggnanandhaa in 2018 had become India’s youngest and world’s second youngest Grandmaster after entering the final round at the Gredine Open in Italy. He achieved the landmark at just 12 years, 10 months and 13 days, which was just three months short of Sergey Karjakin's record of the youngest Grandmaster in the world at 12 years, 7 months.It was Praggnanandhaa's first win in any form of chess against the Norwegian and came on the back of having lost three games in a row. Carlsen finished down in fifth - up from 11th on the leaderboard on Sunday.

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