CHENNAI: R Praggnanandhaa eliminated Hikaru Nakamura after securing wins with both white as well as black pieces on a madcap Friday at the FIDE World Cup. Nakamura, second seed and one of the favourites to advance to the medal rounds, had drawn both his games with the Indian to send the match into a tie-break on the third and final day of the fourth round matches in Baku.
A stunning victory and then miles away there was ice cream. Former multiple world champion and World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, who was deep in the battle against Germany’s Vincent Keymer, came over to shake Praggnanandhaa’s hand and talk to him. Apart from congratulating the achievement, there is a story behind the ice cream that involves Carlsen and RB Ramesh. Earlier in the day, Ramesh, who is currently in Sweden doing a training camp for Carlsen’s club, had told everyone that he would treat them with ice cream if Praggnanandhaa beats Nakamura. “Someone had already conveyed it to Magnus and Magnus was telling Praggu that your coach is buying everyone ice cream,” laughs Ramesh.
And of course, Praggnanandhaa was elated as well. “I am very very happy, I can’t express it. It is one of my best days for sure,” he said in an interview with FIDE. His coach, Ramesh was excited about the win. “Defeating Nakamura, both main games ended in a draw, but today he was in great form, put pressure from the word go. He did not have any trouble, he just got a slightly better position out of the opening and converted it. To beat Hikaru in a rapid match on such a big platform, I am sure it will give a lot of confidence to him,” an elated Ramesh told this daily.
Praggnanandhaa will next face Ferenc Berkes for a spot in the quarterfinals. The first round of games are scheduled to begin on Saturday. Apart from the teenager, D Gukesh, another of the starlets that’s taking the world of chess by fire, also advanced to the next round, beating Andrey Esipenko in tie-breaks. Both Vidit Gujrathi and Arjun Erigaisi also advanced to the Round of 16. In the women’s section, D Harika beat Eline Roebers on tie-breaks to advance to the next round.
Ramesh is pleased with the performances of the Indian youngsters. He is happy to see them carry the legacy of Indian chess forward. “It is very important because it is the youngsters who are taking the initiative. If you look at them, everyone is below 20 years old. Even Nihal got very great positions against Ian Nepomniachtchi, but unfortunately, he lost in the tie-break. So I think all these youngsters are doing well and it’s very important that the youngsters take responsibility to take the game forward. I hope similar things will be happening in the women's section also. We are still having Harika D, who is already 30-plus years old, and unfortunately, we don’t have any teenagers among the girls who are doing similar in the women’s section. So I hope that will change soon.”
(With inputs from Swaroop Swaminathan)