India’s 16-year-old chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won against world number one Magnus Carlsen (31) in an online championship.
The young man beat Carlsen on the night of Monday February 21 to Tuesday February 22, in the Airthings Masters rapid chess tournament. “It’s about time to go to bed, I don’t think I can have dinner at 2:30 in the morning,” Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa said after his 39-stroke win.
Other players have beaten Magnus Carlsen in the past, including India’s Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna, but Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is the youngest since the Norwegian won the world championship in 2013.
“A huge moment”
The teenager, born in Chennai (former Madras) in the state of Tamil Nadu (south), became the youngest international master in history at the age of 10, in 2016. “His results in the last six months have oscillated between the extremes”, declared the coach of the teenager, RB Ramesh, quoted by the television channel ESPN. “This victory against Magnus is important. Beating one of the strongest players in chess history is a huge moment for him.”
For his part, Magnus Carlsen said on Monday feeling the effects of the Covid-19 contracted recently: “It was better today, the first two days, I felt pretty good, but I lacked energy and struggled to concentrate”. The Norwegian player won his fifth consecutive world chess title in December, defeating Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, who lost his temper after an epic eight-hour game, the longest ever played in a World Championship.