Cricketers laud Praggnanandhaa on runners-up finish in Chess World Cup

The Indian cricket fraternity took to social media on Thursday to congratulate young Chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa on his runners-up finish in the International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Cup final.

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen defeated India's grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa to clinch the title of International Chess Federation World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan on Thursday.

Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar expressed delight with the player's performance, encouraging him to chase his dreams and make the whole country proud.

"Congratulations on an incredible tournament, @rpragchess! Keep chasing your dreams and making India proud," tweeted Sachin.

 

Yuzvendra Chahal, the Indian spinner who has represented India in chess internationally, also encouraged the young prodigy to hold his head high after his runners-up finish.

"Hold your head high Praggnanandhaa. The whole nation is proud of you @rpragchess," tweeted Chahal.

 

Hardik Pandya also conveyed his best wishes. "You've done the entire country proud @rpragchess ! And your story is very inspiring. My best wishes for everything the future has in store for you."

 

Indian bowling all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin lauded Praggnanandhaa's performance.

"Pragg. you made us proud as usual. #praggnanandha@rpragchess," tweeted the spinner.

 

The Norwegian chess grandmaster won the first game of the Rapid Chess tie-breaker with black pieces and managed to hold on for a draw in the second game with white pieces. The tiebreaker is played in a Rapid Chess quicker-time control format. Praggnanandhaa fought hard but fell short with Carlsen summoning all his big match experience when it mattered the most.

Earlier on Wednesday Praggnanandhaa and Carlsen drew both their games of Classical Chess.

Praggnanandhaa had to settle for the position of runner-up of the 2023 FIDE World Cup but he will draw hope from the fact that he has qualified for the FIDE Candidates tournament.

The 2024 Candidates Tournament will be an eight-player chess tournament scheduled to be held from 2 April to 25 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada. The winner of the tournament will become the challenger for the 2024 World Chess Championship match.

Praggnanandhaa had an excellent tournament where he defeated World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura in a tie-breaker while reaching the final defeating World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana.