"On Par With Magnus Carlsen": Indian Chess Federation Chief's Big Praise For R Praggnanandhaa

All India Chess Federation (AICF) president Sanjay Kapoor said on Wednesday that the world's number one chess player Magnus Carlsen could have been aggressive and taken his chances during the second game of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Cup final against R Praggnanandhaa and expressed his belief that the 18-year-old Indian grandmaster will emerge as victorious in the tie-breaker on Thursday. The second game of Classical Chess at the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) World Cup final between Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa and Norway's world number one Magnus Carlsen ended in a draw on Wednesday, with the winner of the tournament set to be decided on Thursday. The contest between these two Chess stars has now moved to tie-breakers.

"Today, Carlsen had white pieces and Praggnanandhaa had black. Magnus could have been aggressive and taken his chances. But he did not. It is a great feat for our young Turk Prag (Praggnanandhaa). When you see a young player like him do so well, draw games against Magnus, it means that he is playing on par with him," said the AICF chief in an interview with ANI.

On India's performance in the FIDE Chess World Cup, Sanjay said that India's chess future is bright. Notably, four out of eight quarterfinalists this time around were Indians. This included Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh D, Vidit Gujrathi and Arjun Erigaisi. While Gukesh lost to Carlsen and Vidit lost to Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan, Praggnanandhaa defeated Arjun to reach the semis, where he beat Fabiano Caruana of the US.

"In the Olympiad last year, we had the podium finish in both men's and women's team events (Bronze medal in both categories). It has never happened before. Now our young Turks have started to show