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Chess Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa registered an impressive win over World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the recently concluded Norway Chess 2024 tournament. He has now opened up on the historic win, stating that he was mentally prepared for a fight.
Carlsen went on to clinch his sixth Norway Chess title. Nonetheless, it was a win of great magnitude for the Indian hero, who has not been a part of many classical tournaments in recent times.
Praggnanandhaa played his last game against Nakamura, who was in a must-win scenario to finish on top. However, the game ended in a draw eventually. Praggnanandhaa, the 18-year-old chess prodigy, went on to win the tiebreak game. With that, he capped off his maiden Norway Chess outing placed third, behind Nakamura.
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On his game against the Norwegian player, the Chess Grandmaster said that it was a difficult one.
"It was a difficult game. I knew I would face him in the third round. Before the game, I was ready for a fight because we both had made two draws in the first two games and I knew that he would come for a fight and I was mentally ready for it and he surprised me with a new opening," Praggnanandhaa was quoted as saying by ANI.
"It wasn't easy as Carlsen is a good defender" - Praggnanandhaa
The 18-year-old went on to state that it wasn't an easy game against Carlsen, who is a very good defender in bad positions.
"I got a very big advantage out of the opening and managed to convert it. It wasn't easy especially because he's a very good defender in bad positions but I think the position was the advantage which was it was good enough," he said.
Praggnanandhaa also asserted that the Norway Chess tournament gave him a confidence boost.
"The Norway Chess tournament gave me a lot of confidence that I can fight these guys on equal terms. I knew that if I played my best, I could do that. I wouldn't necessarily say that I played my best in all the games in Norway, and even though I didn't really feel like I did that, still I managed to give... Yeah, still I managed to play in an equal strength to these players," the chess Grandmaster concluded.
Next up, he will be seen in action at the Superbet Romania Classical tournament that is scheduled to be played between June 24 and July 6.
