Kejriwal congratulates Praggnanandhaa for reaching Chess World Cup Final

New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday congratulated Grandmaster (GM) Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa for entering the FIDE Chess World Cup final. 

Praggnanandhaa beat world number 3 American GM, Fabiano Caruana by 3.5-2.5 in the semifinal tie-break games played at Baku, Azerbaijanand, and will now battle it out against world No. 1 and former world champion Magnus Carlsen for the title. 

"18-year-old Praggnanandhaa's outstanding performance in reaching the finals of the Chess World Cup has elevated the country's name. We are all proud of this remarkable achievement. Congratulations to them for this impressive performance at such a young age!," Kejriwal posted on X (formerly Twitter). 

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.

With this win, Praggnanandhaa also qualified to play in the Candidates Tournament, the winner of which will be the challenger to Chinese GM Liren Ding, the reigning world champion.

As per the International Chess Federation or FIDE’s rules, the top three players in the World Cup qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

For Praggnanandhaa, giant slaying is not new in this tournament. He had earlier defeated far more higher-rated players, including US GM Hikaru Nakamura, world No. 2 by rating.