"Mentality Monster": R Praggnanandhaa Gets Viral-worthy Tag From Magnus Carlsen After Terrific Chess World Cup Final

India's R Praggnanandhaa, over the last three days in the Chess World Cup final against Magnus Carlsen, showed the world that he is here to stay at the top in chess for years to come. The 18-year-old stunned a series of top names in global chess to set up a Chess World Cup title clash with world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. The Indian teenager lost the fight against his five-time World Championship winner but not before dragging the match to the tie-breakers. Though Carlsen prevailed on Praggnanandhaa, he gave him a new tag that might make him proud.

"It's little bit funny that I faced almost zero players in their prime. I played Chuky (Vasyl Ivanchuk) and then I played three youngsters. So, yeah, obviously they are very, very strong. I felt like I had my by far best day and game of the event against Gukesh on the first day. Otherwise, that match would've been extremely tough. As for the others, they are very strong. Vincent (Keymer) pushed me the hardest, he was one move away from eliminating me, and leaving everything else moot," Carlsen said on Chess 24 after winning his maiden Chess World Cup title.

"They are all very good, Gukesh is clearly the strongest classical player right now. And then, you have Pragg and (Nodirbek) Abdusattorov who are really strong but also mentality monsters. And then, I think on a tier slightly below, we have Vincent and a few others. But what I think is pretty clear is that chess is in good hands for the future. The generation of players, born from 1990-1994 really have dominated for a long time, and finally now, with these youngsters born in 2003 and after, we have a generation that's worthy of succeeding us."

Though, Praggnanandhaa had to settle for the position of runner-up of the 2023 FIDE