Indian chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa stunned the chess world once again by defeating World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The 19-year-old Grandmaster, known for his calm and composed play, beat the former five-time world champion in just 39 moves during Round 4 of the group stage.

This match was played with a 10 minutes + 10 seconds increment time format, and Carlsen, who has been struggling recently, continued his poor run against Indian players. Notably, he also lost twice to current world champion D Gukesh in recent tournaments.

Impressive accuracy and control by Praggnanandhaa

In this round, Praggnanandhaa played with the White pieces and delivered an impressive accuracy of 93.9%, while Carlsen struggled with a low accuracy of 84.9%, highlighting his difficulties during the game.

Following the match, Praggnanandhaa said, "I like Freestyle more than Classical right now," during an interview with the organisers. His victory is even more special as Carlsen had earlier become the first-ever player to cross a 2900 rating in Freestyle chess.

Leads Group White after Carlsen upset

With this win, Praggnanandhaa climbed to the top of the eight-player Group White, scoring 3.5 points. However, a draw against Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan and a loss to Armenian GM Levon Aronian in Rounds 5 and 6 respectively brought his total to 4 points, placing him in a tie for the lead.

Carlsen’s mixed performance on Day 1

Carlsen had a bumpy start in Las Vegas. He won against Vincent Keymer and Levon Aronian in the first two rounds. Then, he played a draw against Javokhir Sindarov, followed by the loss to Praggnanandhaa in Round 4. In Round 5, Carlsen suffered another defeat—this time to Wesley So, even while playing with the White pieces. He ended Day 1 with a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in Round 6. At the time of the report, Carlsen was in fifth place, with 3 points from 6 games.

Praggnanandhaa’s journey so far

Praggnanandhaa began the tournament with a draw against Abdusattorov using the Black pieces. He followed it up with a win over Bibisara Assaubayeva—the first female participant in the Freestyle Grand Slam—while playing White. He then beat Vincent Keymer in Round 3 with the Black pieces before scoring his remarkable win over Carlsen.

Praggnanandhaa is set to face American Grandmaster Wesley So in the final round of the group stage. The top four players from each group will advance to the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals, while the bottom four will move to the Bottom Bracket Quarterfinals.

This tournament continues to showcase the rising dominance of Indian players on the global chess stage, with Praggnanandhaa once again proving he can go toe-to-toe with the very best.