OSLO: In 2007, when Viswanathan Anand was at the peak of his powers, he beat Magnus Carlsen twice in the same Classical event in Linares. This wasn't out of the ordinary. Carlsen wasn't anywhere near the world's best. In fact, the duo used to play training games before Anand's title tilt in 2008.
But the Norwegian developed rather quickly post that. In fact, since that Linares tournament in 2007, he had never once lost two Classical games to the same player in a single event. Not even in a gruelling World Championship where players grind it out over a series of games in three weeks.
That sequence came to a shuddering halt at the hands of R Praggnanandhaa on Tuesday evening just as a very pleasant Oslo summer's day started giving way to something colder. Last week, the 20-year-old beat the 35-year-old with the white pieces. On Tuesday, he repeated the trick with the black pieces. The win also marks his third win over the Norwegian GM, thus joining an elite band of players to have a positive score over the five-time world champion in Classical chess (his first win over Carlsen at the same event in 2024).
The signs about Carlsen being in danger were there even before the start of round eight. In his customary pre-round small interview with the local broadcaster, he admitted to feeling like "shit".
And he played a very uncharacteristic match from start to finish. In the end, after he equalised a dicey-looking position, he walked his king into a forced checkmate as long as the young Indian could spot it. And Pragg, who himself has been having an up and down tournament, spotted the continuation.
After 47 moves, it was level. Seconds later, the mood changed in the commentary box as experienced broadcasters couldn't keep their excitement down. The eval bar jumped from 0.0 to #7 -- in simple terms, a blunder of the highest order -- after Carlsen's move to Kf4. With just 44 seconds on the clock, his opponent had to find 48. Qd4. And Pragg found it immediately. As soon as he played it, Carlsen's already shaky body language dropped. He fiddled around with the king for two more moves but he had already realised that his king was about to be barbecued on the board.
'Pragg was in control from the start'
The win moves Praggnanandhaa to third on the table with two rounds to go. How does his coach, Vaibhav Suri, see this win? "It was smoother and a little less chaotic (than the win last week)," he told this daily. "He was in control from the start and took good decisions on the board. Our preparation worked very well today. That was evident in the time advantage he got and managed to put pressure."
Carlsen, who has now lost four Classical games at a single event (first time in over 10 years), has had a strange tournament by his very high standards and some of it has stemmed from his use of time. He has generally managed time very effectively but over the last 10 days, he has found ways to bleed one of the game's most important resources. That was in play against the 2733-rated Pragg again. Typically when you are playing white, you are up on the clock when the endgame begins. Here, Carlsen was down to 20 minutes (Pragg had over 50).
While Suri was super happy to note his ward's positive score against one of the game's greatest ever, he was careful to put things in perspective. "It's really good to see how Pragg is winning against Magnus which is not usual or common at all. What we can gather is that he's still very strong but not invincible as a player. We are still trying to figure out how to improve ourselves because that's what matters plus Magnus isn't super active right now which definitely plays a big role. He is not as super motivated as he was in say 2018 or 2020. This makes a difference but still beating him twice in the same tournament is no small feat."
The 20-year-old, long destined to climb to the top of the world, has already come a long way since one of the last times he played Carlsen twice in the same tournament. At the 2023 World Cup, they faced off in a best of three Classical final (it went to tie-breaks which he lost). How has the Indian evolved since then? "There's a massive difference between the Pragg of then and now," Suri said. "Players mature a lot in how they see positions, how they see things on the board. He's also a very different player now. Over the last few years, he has done a lot of experimentation to see what works. His head space... he's a lot more ambitious now, he's mentally stronger."
In the short-term, the challenge in front of him is obvious. To stage a famous fightback and win this event. But the longer-term goal remains the same. Becoming world champion. Wins like today suggests he may be on the right path.
Results (Rd 8): Open R Praggnanandhaa bt Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja bt D Gukesh, Wesley So bt Vincent Keymer (Armageddon); Women Bibisara Assaubayeva bt Divya Deshmukh, Zhu Jiner bt Ju Wenjun, Koneru Humpy bt Anna Muzychuk (Armageddon)
