Latest news with #FreestyleChessGrandSlamTour
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Magnus Carlsen's wife Ella: ‘Magnus says that Praggnanandhaa plays most similar to him'
Magnus Carlsen's admiration for the golden trio of Indian chess — world champion Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi — is well known. But now, Carlsen's wife Ella has revealed which player the world no 1 himself thinks plays the most similar brand of chess to him on the board. Ella also praised Arjun and Gukesh as very 'sweet', while talking about her first interaction with Gukesh and his father Rajinikanth. 'All three (Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun) are very different, but Magnus did say that Pragg plays more similarly to him, the most similar to him,' Ella revealed during a ChessBase India live stream during the recent Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Carlsen's admiration for Praggnanandhaa has been known since the FIDE World Cup in 2023, when Pragg had reached the final and lost to Carlsen. But not before he had taken down players like Arjun, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. After one of those conquests, while Pragg was walking off the stage, Carlsen had walked up to him to pat the Indian teenager on the back. He had later spoken about how at Offerspill, his chess club back home in Norway, there were kids being told by Pragg's long-time guru, RB Ramesh, that they should 'be like Pragg'. That was the catchphrase he had told Pragg after his win over Nakamura in the FIDE World Cup, which had made the Indian smile. Ella also praised Arjun. 'I saw this like clip of Arjun where he was asked what was his biggest fears growing up and he said 'ghosts'. I really liked that. I thought that was very cute. Arjun is very sweet, like when you talk to him in person. And then like over the board he's just a maniac. He's just out there hunting and going crazy,' Ella said. This corresponds with something Carlsen had told The Indian Express last year in an interaction. 'Arjun is just a complete mad man at the board. He wants to kill you in every single game. Has crazy preparation and plays extremely ambitiously and that's what makes him very dangerous,' Carlsen had told The Indian Express in May this year. Ella also spoke about the first time she had met and interacted with Gukesh and his father Rajinikanth. ChessBase India's Sagar Shah recollected that he and his wife were heading for dinner with Gukesh and his father Rajinikanth, when Magnus and Ella pulled up in a car and offered them lift. 'I spoke to Gukesh and his father at Weissenhaus for the first time. They were very sweet,' Ella said.
Indian Express
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Levon Aronian makes Rs 1.7 crore for Freestyle Chess title, but what did Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa win at Las Vegas?
The Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour ended with the veteran Levon Aronian claiming the title with Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlsen taking second and third spots in the standings respectively. The win for Aronian was accompanied by a mega prize check of $200,000 (approximately Rs 1.7 crore). Aronian captured his first Freestyle Chess Grand Slam crown at Wynn Las Vegas after defeating Hans Niemann 1.5-0.5 in the Grand Final. Meanwhile, Niemann, who lost to Aronian in the final, will go home $1,40,000 richer (approx Rs 1.2 crore) and Carlsen pockets $1,00,000 (approx Rs 1.2 crore) for ending third in the tournament. So how much did the Indians make from the event? Arjun Erigaisi, who was India's best finisher at the Las Vegas event with a 6th place finish, pocketed over Rs 34 lakhs ($40,000) while Praggnanandhaa, who finished one spot behind Arjun, claimed Rs 25 lakhs ($30,000). For context, Gukesh had pocketed Rs 11.4 crore for becoming the youngest World Champion in history. Arjun had been the only semi-finalist from India with three other Americans for company. There, he had lost to had lost to eventual winner Aronian. Then, he lost 2-0 to Magnus Carlsen as the Norwegian charted his path to third place. Then, Arjun was defeated by Fabiano Caruana. Praggnanandhaa finished in seventh place after a victory over Wesley So. 'Seventh doesn't sound well but I feel I played much better than [where] I finished at the end. At these crucial moments I didn't show show my best I guess. I should have won yesterday. I think I should learn to make some draws because I was not making them when I needed to,' Pragg was quoted as saying by Freestyle Chess in a release. Vidit Gujrathi, who ended joint 13th with four others, will take home $7500 (approximately Rs 6.4 lakhs).
Indian Express
a day ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Praggnanandhaa vs Magnus Carlsen: How India's rising chess star eclipsed World No.1 twice in a week at Las Vegas Freestyle event
It's not often that World No.1 and former five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen is beaten by the same opponent twice in four days. India's R Praggnanandhaa, the soft-spoken, bespectacled rising star, did just that in Las Vegas. On Thursday, Praggnanandhaa stunned Carlsen in the classification game for a quarterfinal spot in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour's upper bracket in Los Angeles, denying him a direct entry into the top eight for the first time in the tour. On Saturday, Praggnanandhaa found Carlsen standing in his way again, this time in the lower bracket of the LA leg. The Chennai lad was one notch above the Norwegian maestro in the 43-move game, forcing Carlsen to resign for his second win over the World No. 1. What made this victory special was that Praggnanandhaa was coming off a gruelling 10-hour loss, stretching over seven straight games against American Fabiano Caruana in the upper bracket quarterfinals. The Indian prodigy described it as one of the 'craziest matches' he had ever played. He had regained ground after beating Germany's Vincent Keymer, but playing Carlsen is a herculean challenge even for one of the best next-generation stars. The earlier loss on Thursday meant that Carlsen could no longer fight for the title, with his best possible finish now being third place in the overall standings. The rematch, for Carlsen, was a matter of pride after his title hopes had been dashed in Freestyle chess, his favourite variant. Praggnanandhaa's best possible finish is seventh place. In this format, each game begins with randomly shuffled back-rank pieces, creating 960 possible starting positions. Designed to nullify established chess theory, it forces players into uncharted territory from the very first move. Praggnanandhaa's second consecutive victory against the normally invincible Carlsen was no small feat. However, coming after Carlsen's twin losses to World Champion D Gukesh in the classical format at Norway Chess and in the rapid format at Croatia's SuperUnited tournament, defeat against Arjun Erigaisi at Paris leg of Freestyle event and a surprising draw against nine-year-old Indian Aarit Kapil in an online Blitz game, the Norwegian's aura of invincibility appears to be showing cracks. But Carlsen, being the genius he is, fought back to beat Praggnanandhaa in the next three games to stay in the hunt for a podium finish on Saturday. Yet, Praggnanandhaa has emerged, by far, as the most competent Indian to take Carlsen head-on. Whether it's Mikhail Tal's famous advice to Alexander Beliavsky to hone his intuition, or Garry Kasparov's enduring belief that it's 'intuition first, then calculation', the chess world's elite have consistently agreed on one principle: intuition trumps calculation. And, Carlsen has been vocal and direct in his assessment of the Indian prodigies, praising them as some of the best calculators in the game, though he believes their lack of intuitive play leaves them vulnerable. 'What most of them (Indian players from this generation) have in common is that their calculation is extremely good. Even those players who have zero understanding of the game, they calculate so well that, with longer time controls, they can still get by and give even people like me a really, really hard time,' Carlsen had remarked earlier. Carlsen once compared Indian players to their Chinese counterparts, noting greater stylistic diversity among the latter. 'There's a bigger variety within Chinese players. You have the World Champion Ding (Liren)… who's not doing great at the moment, but at his peak, he was an incredible, intuitive, dynamic player. So, very different styles there,' Carlsen had observed last year. Praggnanandhaa, however, has managed to quash this perception of Carlsen. Learning from Kasparov's 'trusting your guts' advice, the young Indian's game has the required element that has bothered even the best of talents. Carlsen famously applauded Praggnanandhaa after the Indian put up a tremendous fight at the Julius Baer Generation Cup in September 2022, where the Norwegian barely escaped with a draw against the then 16-year-old. By then, Praggnanandhaa had already beaten Carlsen multiple times to gain his respect. Magnus Carlsen gives 17-year-old Praggnanandhaa a quick round of applause and thumbs up after a fantastic fight ends in a draw! #ChessChamps #JuliusBaerGenerationCup — chess24 (@chess24com) September 19, 2022 The year 2023 was a breakout one for Praggnanandhaa. He stormed into the FIDE World Cup final, defeating some of the biggest names in the circuit, including Carlsen's long-time arch-rival, Hikaru Nakamura. His victory over Nakamura was so impressive that it drew Carlsen away from his own match to congratulate the teenager with a pat on the back and heartfelt praise: 'We all want to be like you today.' Incidentally, Praggnanandhaa faced Carlsen in that World Cup final. At one stage, he nearly denied the Norwegian his last major title, playing two sublime games in the Classical format and forcing the final into tiebreaks. However, Carlsen — clearly superior to Praggnanandhaa in shorter time controls — prevailed over the Indian, ending his long wait for a coveted World Cup gold. Though a heartbroken Praggnanandhaa lost to Carlsen on what was perhaps the biggest stage after the latter relinquished his World Championship title, the Indian's composure and playing style made one thing clear: Praggnanandhaa was destined to trouble Carlsen in the months and weeks to come.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Hilarious blunder as Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura study wrong opening position for 5 minutes
There was a hilarious blunder on day 4 of the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour as Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura spent almost five minutes before their games against Arjun Erigaisi and Fabiano Caruana respectively analysing the wrong opening position. Both Carlsen and Nakamura only realised their mistake when they actually arrived on their board for their game and then saw the pieces lined up in position no 122. In the position that Carlsen and Nakamura had analysed, they had exchanged the starting position of their queen with a knight: instead of the knight being on the a file and the queen being on b, Carlsen and Nakamura were analysing a starting position where the queen was in the corner and the knight was on b file. ChessBase India caught Hikaru looking at the position on the screen just before the start of his game and asking Carlsen, 'Did we look at the wrong position?' Carlsen, too, looked surprised at this. Then, he let out a short laugh as he looked at the board itself. Remarkably, despite the hilarious error, Magnus beat Arjun in that game while Nakamura drew with Caruana. Both Nakamura and Carlsen were playing with white pieces. Carlsen and Nakamura will be fighting for third place today while Arjun and Caruana will battle for fifth place. Praggnanandhaa will take on Wesley So for seventh spot. In scenes captured before the match, Arjun and Caruana had opted to analyse the game for the full 10 minutes. Cameras caught both of them sitting on the communal table and sitting on their knees to evaluate what their best response should be. Nakamura meanwhile opted to analyse the position by himself on one of the playing boards. Then, Carlsen walked up to him and joined him to analyse the game. Carlsen, with his white jacket worn only on one shoulder, did plenty of analysing. 'Wait a second, breaking news! Magnus and Hikaru are teaming up. For the first time in this event,' said grandmaster Peter Leko on the Freestyle Chess' Pro Stream. As the camera focussed on the analysis of the world no 1 and no 2, in the pro commentary stream, grandmasters like Leko, Judit Polgar and Vincent Keymer sounded confused by the moves the players seemed to be making. When Carlsen played 1.c4 as his opening move against Arjun, that caused even more surprise, as Leko said: 'Wait a second, after analysing d4 for so long, he's played c4. Is he fooling everyone?' Soon enough, Nakamura too played 1.c4.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Praggnanandhaa beats Magnus Carlsen for 2nd time in three days in Las Vegas
Magnus Carlsen was once again handed defeat by R Praggnanandhaa in the first game of their duel for ranking places at the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour on Saturday evening. Pragg, playing with white pieces, forced the five-time world champion Carlsen to resign in 43 moves. In the game played in Position No 414 in a 10-minute time control, Pragg seized an advantage on the board as per the evaluation bar as early as the 10th move and never yielded his edge from that stage. . Position 414 sees a pair of knights on one side of the king while the bishop pair is on another side and the rooks standing as sentries on their regular squares on the edge of the board. The result comes just three days after Praggnanandhaa beat the world no 1 from Norway in 39 moves. A subsequent defeat to Levon Aronian resulted in Carlsen being knocked out of the race for qualifying for the Winners's Bracket. Carlsen started his campaign at Las Vegas with a couple of wins. However, he then sank to losses against Praggnanandhaa and Wesley So. Then there were two draws, which left him needing a win in the final round just to force a tiebreak. He beat Bibisara Assaubayeva. But then lost both playoff games to Aronian, who clinched the final qualifying spot from the White Group. 'I think it started well (on Day 1). I felt all right, relatively rested at least compared to other days. And then I don't know, I didn't enjoy the whole process of just being pretty isolated there for many, many hours and not being able to talk to Peter (coach Peter Heine Nielsen) or Ella (wife Ella Malone) in between rounds and not being able to use my devices and so on. What happened then was just kind of a complete collapse of my nervous system,' Carlsen told the YouTube handle of Freestyle Chess after his win over Vidit. 'I could have scraped through of course with some help but it would have been completely underserved. So, it was a complete collapse and yeah, sometimes you have one bad day and I've had that in Freestyle before in the preliminaries, but then there's been a bit of a wider margin to get through. This time it wasn't. It's not an excuse. I should make it regardless.' Incredibly, beating Carlsen is not new for the 19-year-old Indian GM. Praggnanandhaa had famously beaten Carlsen in the classical format at the Norway Chess tournament in 2023. Before that, he had defeated the Norwegian in an online game. Carlsen later bounced back by thrashing Vidit Gujrathi 2-0 to advance to the next round while the Indian was eliminated from the event, finishing joint 13th with four others. The Norwegian said that he had suffered a 'complete collapse of his nervous system' on the first day of the event and did not enjoy not being able to talk to his wife Ella or his long-time coach Peter Heine Nielsen between rounds. Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour is a series of multiple chess events around the year, modelled on the grand Slams in tennis started by Germany's Jan Henric Buettner. In 2025, it was initially supposed to be held in cities like Weissenhaus, Paris, New York, New Delhi and Cape Town. But the New York event was shifted to Las Vegas while the India event was cancelled.
