Magnus Carlsen "Did Not Have Lot Of Energy": Praggnanandhaa After 2nd Drawn Chess World Cup Final Game

The Chess World Cup final between Indian teenager R Praggnanandhaa and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen went into the tie-breakers after the second game of the title clash ended in a draw on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the first game also ended in a draw. The second game finished quite quickly as after only 30 moves the players decided to shake hands. The champion will be decided via two tie-breaks on Thursday.

Five-time world champion Carlsen played a solid game with white pieces against Praggnanandhaa. However, the Indian did not face any trouble with black pieces. Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand predicted on social media that Carlsen might be playing for a draw.

Wow, did not expect this opening! Is Magnus repeating his game 12 strategy of 2016 and aiming for a tiebreak?@FIDE_chess #FIDEWorldCup2023

Even the commentators of the match, said during the initial few minutes of the match that because Carlsen was battling with food poisoning was not in the right frame of health he might be playing for a draw, which would take the final to the third day. Thus giving the Norwegian great some valuable time to recover.

Praggnanandhaa was ahead on time at the start of the contest, but was unable to press home the advantage. He himself came under time by the end of the contest. The first game on Tuesday had ended in a stalemate after over four hours of play and 70-plus moves, following which Carlsen said he was a bit under the weather.

Speaking after the game, Praggnanandhaa said, "I didn't really think that he would go for a quick draw today, but I realised when he went for this line that he wanted to make a draw; I was also fine with that. I also feel exhausted, as I said in the previous interviews. Now I can just give everything