The magnificent global chess tournament by Airthings is ongoing. And in this tournament, India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has created bluster by beating the five-time world champion, and the world’s current number one chess player Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
At the Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament, the 16-year-old Rameshbabu played against Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round. Rameshbabu won this round with black pieces in 39 moves in the Tarrasch variation and blocked Carlsen’s run of three straight wins in the tournament. In the 13th preliminary round, Rameshbabu had a draw against Germany’s Vincent Keymer. Unfortunately, he then went down in the next round against Mokko Nieman of the USA and missed the quarter-finals of the tournament. Even if Rameshbabu hasn’t qualified for the finals at the Airthings tournament, the world is already hailing his triumph for his moving achievement at the occasion.
Defeating the world's number one chess player at the age of 16 is not the only outstanding achievement of Rameshbabu Praggnanandh, as he has a prolonged and excellent record of attaining milestones in the game of chess. At the age of 7, Rameshbabu won the World Youth Chess Championship 2013 U-8 title and consequently achieved the title of FIDE Master at the same age. When Rameshbabu was 10 years old, he became the youngest International Master in history. In the year 2018, Rameshbabu again became the second-youngest Grand Master at the age of 12 years. And with his latest victory at the Airthings tournament, Rameshbabu Praggnanandh is currently only the third Indian to beat Magnus Carlsen after Vishwanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna. And now just at the young age of 16, Rameshbabu Praggnanandh is making the world sit up and take note of India’s young and promising chess talent.
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