It’s rare to see five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen jovially chat with his opponent and discuss moves in-depth after a Classical over-the-board game, that too in the final of a FIDE World Cup.
It isn’t just any opponent. It’s India’s young trailblazer, 18-year-old R Praggnanandhaa, someone who the Norwegian has become really fond of. So much so, that when their first game in Baku ended in a draw in just 35 moves on Tuesday, the duo chatted for a good couple of minutes, exchanging notes and possibly discussing the could-have-been scenarios.
It’s a far cry from when Carlsen took on India’s legend Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship final in 2013 and 2014. Then, the young Carlsen who beat Anand to win his first title in 2013, never really interacted with his older opponent. Even his replies in press conferences were matter of fact. It almost seemed like he didn’t want to give anything away.
A friendly rivalry
But the Norwegian has been different when dealing with the young Indian superstars, often speaking of how they are revolutionising chess not only in India but also in the entire world.
When Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh D, and Arjun Erigaisi were part of his team in the inaugural Global Chess League, he took the time to for meals together so that they could pick his brain. And the youngsters did exactly that.
“Carlsen’s just a really friendly person. For us to discuss chess with him is a great experience. We have been playing some training games with him. We generally talk about different positions, we talk about different games. Just to know how he thinks, how his mind really works, what are his first intuitive moves in different positions is just a great experience for all of us,” Praggnanandhaa had told The Indian Express during that tournament.
Using the knowledge
He may beaten have World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana en route to the final, but Praggnandhaa is well aware that Carlsen is at a higher level and so he would have to be exceptional to not only be the first Indian to enter the semifinal of the World Cup since Anand (in 2002) but also to win it.
The youngster, playing with white pieces, tried a different approach in the opening, which looked to have confused Carlsen who fell back on time, trying to decide his moves.
“Pragg moves around a bit with his openings. I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t prepare for c4 (the first move played by Praggnanandhaa). Then I started to play some common sense moves,” Carlsen said after the game.
Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay says it seems like Carlsen is saving his best for Game 2, where he will play with white pieces.
“With the way that Carlsen has been going in this tournament, it’s clear he’s decided that he’s going to win one of the Classical games and avoid going into tiebreakers,” Thipsay said.
Carlsen’s only loss in this tournament was against 18-year-old German Vincent Keymer. After beating him in tiebreakers, Carlsen not only didn’t lose a single game but also avoided tiebreakers in his run to the final. His closest challenge was against Gukesh in the quarterfinal when the highest-rated Indian almost managed to pull one game back to take it to tiebreakers. Carlsen managed to eke out a draw and win the tie. It was almost like he wanted to avoid tiebreakers.
Praggnanandhaa should know that. His best chance of winning the World Cup would be if he manages to take Carlsen to tiebreakers. Thipsay says the shorter the format, the better Praggnanandhaa’s chances are.
“Carlsen is flawless at rapid and blitz when he’s dealing with players of his generation. We saw that isn’t necessarily the case when he’s facing the younger generation. That’s why Praggnanandhaa must defend well with black pieces on Wednesday to take Carlsen to tiebreakers. I’ll go even further and say that Praggnanadhaa must try to take Carlsen to the 10-minute game or even the blitz. Praggnanandhaa’s strength lies in his ability to spot moves quickly,” Thipsay says.
Thipsay was referring to the tiebreakers Praggnanandhaa won against Nakamura, Erigaisi, and Caruana in this tournament. Despite being in losing positions, the Chennai lad managed to defend stoutly and win the matches.
Off-colour Carlsen
One would think that having the advantage of a rest day, Carlsen would be the fresher one of the two. Rather unusually, he was seen sipping coffee in between his moves, and despite being in time trouble, he would get up to grab himself a bottle of water. The 32-year-old revealed after the game that he was suffering from a bout of food poisoning.
“Normally, I would just probably have a bit of an advantage having a rest day while he (Praggnanandhaa) had to play a tough tiebreak yesterday, but I’ve been in pretty rough shape the last couple of days. I got some poisoning after the game against Abasov. I haven’t been able to eat for the last two days,” he said.
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INTERACTIVE: You can follow the move-by-move action from the first game in the final between Praggnanandhaa and MAgnus Carlsen below and also click on the notations at the right of the board to retrace the way the game developed:
Trying to turn this to his advantage, Carlsen said being ill made him calm. “I had no energy to be nervous,” Carlsen said.
The Norwegian, who has decided to not challenge for the World Championship title, will hope an upset stomach doesn’t hamper his hope of winning the first-ever World Cup crown. Across the board, there’s Praggnanandhaa, who’s as hungry as ever.
