Hello and welcome to our live coverage of FIDE Chess World Cup 2023 Final Day 3 between India’s R Praggnanandhaa and Magnus Carlsen from Baku.
18-year-old R Praggnanandhaa, who is playing his maiden World Cup final, will battle it out with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the tie-breakers in Baku on Thursday after the two classical time control matches ended in a draw in what is being seen as the battle of generations.
Carlsen, as highlighted by the commentators, might have pushed for a draw, considering he was low on energy on Tuesday due to illness. There were some aggressive moves during the 30-move Game 2 as the queens came off and rooks were sacrificed toward the end.
However, both players agreed to a draw, pushing the game to a tie-breaker. In the tie-breaker, the two players will play two games in a rapid format with a time control of 10 minutes for each player and a 10-second increment for each move.
Praggnanandhaa’s composed demeanour at the table conceals a confident and aggressive player. When he sits at the table for a game, he can be a formidable opponent. And he has demonstrated exceptional fighting abilities, particularly during the World Cup. When he faced world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura, he displayed it in spades and defeated a higher-ranked opponent. Then, in the semifinal against Fabiano Caruana, the world No.3, his defensive abilities came to the fore, and he prevailed in a nail-biting tie-break.
TIE-BREAKERS
A set of tie-breakers will be played on Thursday. Pragg and Carlsen will begin with two rapid games of 25+10 time control. If the winner is not yet decided, then two blitz games of 5+3 time control will be played. If it’s still a draw, then a sudden-death blitz match of 3+2 will be played until the winner is decided.
Praggnanandhaa, speaking to FIDE after the second drawn game, said he was able to sense Carlsen’s intentions and that he was aware of the Norwegian’s illness.
“I realised he was not well. 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 tomorrow and relax after that,” Praggnanandhaa said.
