R. Praggnanandhaa, continuing his dream run, took World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana out of his comfort zone, pulled him into shorter time-control games and nailed him to challenge favourite Magnus Carlsen in the final of the FIDE World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Praggnanandhaa, who turned 18 during the World Cup and knocked out second seed Hikaru Nakamura on the way, now becomes the third youngest to qualify for the Candidates Tournament after Bobby Fischer and Magnus Carlsen. He is also the first Indian to reach the World Cup final since the knockout format was introduced in 2005.
It may be recalled that Viswanathan Anand’s titles came in 2000 and 2002 came in a 24-player league-cum-knockout format.