R Praggnanandhaa vs Magnus Carlsen, Chess World Cup final highlights: Pragg finishes runner-up after Carlsen wins final

“We are proud of Praggnanandhaa for his remarkable performance at the FIDE World Cup! He showcased his exceptional skills and gave a tough fight to the formidable Magnus Carlsen in the finals. This is no small feat. Wishing him the very best for his upcoming tournaments,” the Indian Prime Minister said in his special tweet for Praggnanandhaa. 

R Praggnanandhaa scripted a fairy tale by reaching the final after beating two of the top three in the world. In the final, though, he came up against a player who has ended many a fairy tale run in the past. And yet, Pragg made a good case of himself against Magnus Carlsen and it pretty much shows that sky is the limit for him in his career. He leaves the tournament with a runners-up tag and an elusive place in the Candidates tournament. 

For finishing second in the FIDE World Cup 2023, Praggnanandhaa has earned a whopping sum of USD 80,000 (approximately ₹66,13,444). Norway's Carlsen is taking home USD 110K (approximately ₹90,93,551) for winning the World Cup title in Baku.

Grandmaster RB Ramesh has been Praggnanandhaa's coach for 10 years and has been guiding his ward in this tournament from Chennai.

The legendary Viswanathan Anand has his say on the final. 

Fabiano Caruana, whom Praggnanandhaa had stunned in the semi-final, has beaten Nijat Abasov and has taken the third place.

One has to remember that the young Indian is already the only one from his country apart from Viswanathan Anand to have reached the Candidates tournament by virtue of reaching the final. He beat Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, two players in the top three apart from Carlsen who is the top ranked player. Carlsen discusses the board briefly with Pragg before they walk off. 

It had come down to Pragg needing Carlsen to make an absolutely horrendous error to stand a chance at winning it. He decides to shake hands and so Magnus Carlsen has finally added the World Cup to his overflowing trophy cabinet.

Carlsen has played Sicilian Defense - Alapin Variation, something he used against Pragg's countryman Arjun Erigaisi to aplomb. GM Daniel Naroditsky says on Chess24 that Pragg has absolutely no hopes of winning here with the black.

This is what it looks like after that initial flurry from the two players. 

All right ticking down the seconds now, both players shake hands and here we go. Remember, the colours have been exchanged, Prag is on black. Carlsen starts with an E4. Prag responds with a c5. Both players in fact exchanging moves quite quickly in the first few seconds. 

Prag shakes hands with Carlsen and that is that for the first game. The Norwegian has won on the black, which means even a draw would be enough for him to clinch his maiden World Cup title. 

The two players exchange rooks, Carlsen has over 3 minutes left on his clock while Prag has less than one. This is geting quite intense. 

This is what the board looks like at the moment. Prag looking to defend a very tricky endgame here from Carlsen. 

Carlsen plays rook a8-d8 and now waiting on Prag. Magnus has two rooks and two knights among his major pieces. Meanwhile, Prag has two rooks and a knight and a bishop. Prag moves one of those two rooks to F2 from F1 and so this is what the board looks like after that. 

Getting into the endgame now. Both players have exchanged their queens.

Carlsen seems to have roared back into this with his last few games. Prag moves his king to h1. Waiting on the Norwegian. That time gap, has now now gone back to being level, we are moving towards the last 10 minutes on each players' clock.

This is what the board looks like Prag is pondering his move, he has about six minutes on Carlsen at the moment.

This is where it stands. Magnus, in fact, seems to be comparitively more dicey here. But it is Magnus after all, he might have something up his sleeve, which is probably what Prag is thinking of as well. We are waiting for the Norwegian's move. 

Prag starts off with an e4, Carlsen responds with an e5. The same moves as yesterday with colours reversed. Hold on to your seatbelts.

Only Garry Kasparov has held the No.1 title for longer than Magnus Carlsen. He has the longest unbeaten streak in elite level classical chess. He has been world champion five times. And yet, incredibly, Carlsen has never won a World Cup. In fact, this is the first time he is playing in the final of the competition.

This piece of information is for the uninitiated - today these two players are going to play multiple matches. It will start with first tie-braker stage where two sets of rapid games will be played. The time control will be 25 minutes for the game plus an additional 10-second increment per move. If the overall score is tied 1-1 at the end of it, the match proceeds to the second tiebreak stage. The time control for this 10 minutes plus a 10-second increment.

If there is no winner after this tie-break as well, it moves to a two-game blitz series. Each player is given five minutes on the clock, with an additional three seconds added after each move. In case there are no winners here either, we move to the last stage. Here a sudden-death blitz match takes place. The time control for each game is three minutes with a two-second increment (3+2 time control). A drawing of lots will determine which player plays white. If this ends in a tie, the players switch colours and play another blitz game. This will go on until a winner is decided.

The two players have faced each other 13 times in shorter time control games. Carlsen, widely rated as the greatest in the world in these formats, has won eight times while Prag has won five.

Right, both the tables have been set for the final and third-place tie-breaks. Just a refresher, Fabiano Caruana and Nijat Abasov are in the third place match. Caruana beat Abasov in round 2 after the Azerbaijani beat the American in the first game.