The third week of August, 2023 is a week of suspense, excitement and high spirits for India.
On Monday, Indian chess Grandmaster (GM) R.Praggnanandhaa made the nation's spirits reach the moon by entering the finals of the FIDE World Cup defeating world number 3, the American GM Fabiano Caruana.
In the process, Praggnanandhaa booked his seat for the Candidates Tournament to be held in Canada next year. The winner of the Candidates Tournament will challenge the Chinese GM Liren Ding, the reigning world champion for the world title.
Now the suspense and excitement is will Praggnanandhaa defeat world number 1, the Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen to lift the World Cup?
In one of the earlier rounds, Praggnanandhaa had slayed world number 2 from the US GM Hikaru Nakamura.
Having already defeated world No. 2 and world No. 3 in the tournament, will Praggnanandhaa be able to defeat the world No.1 is the question doing the rounds in chess circles now.
Photo courtesy of Instagram (@pragg_chess)
