CHENNAI: Magnus Carlsen, still facing the effects of being indisposed a few days ago, settled for a quick, unambitious draw with white pieces in the second of the two-game World Cup final against R Praggnanandhaa. This means that the final will be decided by rapid tiebreaks on Thursday.
Wednesday’s final lasted 30 moves but it was over from very early on as the Norwegian played a very safe line suggesting he didn’t want to spend too much time on the board. As the game developed, Pragg, who has been involved in three tiebreaks this tournament alone, had also gotten around to that line of thinking.
“I didn’t really think that he would go for a quick draw today, but I realised when he went for this line that he wants to make a draw; I was also fine with that,” he told FIDE. “I also feel exhausted, as I said in the previous interviews. Now I can just give everything tomorrow and relax after that.”
Carlsen said that he is feeling a bit better than Tuesday. He revealed after the first game that he was suffering from food poisoning and felt exhausted. On Wednesday he said he was much better. “Very grateful to the organisers, the doctors and nurses as well. They gave me some good treatments. I am feeling much better but I still didn’t feel like I have to energy for a full fight. So I thought just give one more day of rest and come hard tomorrow.”
Carlsen, chasing his first World Cup, did hint that he was feeling low. “Praggnanandhaa has already played a lot of tiebreaks against very strong players... I know he is very strong. If I have some energy, if I have a good day, obviously I will have good chances,” he told FIDE.
For Praggnanandhaa this has been a sensational run. He beat World NO 2 Hiraku Nakamura and then world No 3 Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals. He has played some great tie-breaks and like he said after the semifinals he felt a bit exhausted too. The Chennai boy who turned 18 during the tournament also said that it is good to see so much attention being given to the sport and also to himself. “I am definitely getting used to this,” he told FIDE. “It is good to see so many people following chess and chess is definitely getting popular.”