Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa took down World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen to reach the top-bracket quarter-finals at the $750,000 Freestyle Grand Slam Tour here.
The 19-year-old Indian GM, ranked 7th in the world, was in his element as he deployed his pieces effectively right from the word go and crashed through Carlsen’s defences with some imaginative manoeuvres.
The loss against Praggnanandhaa had such a cascading effect on the Norwegian that he lost another game against USA’s Wesley So in the next round and was then shockingly eliminated from the top bracket by another American, Levon Aronian, in the final tiebreaker for the fourth spot.
Praggnanandhaa is tied for the first spot on four-and-a-half points in his group with Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Carlsen is tied fifth with four points to his name.
Meanwhile, Arjun Erigaisi also progressed to the quarter-final from his side of the bracket.
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