Grand Master Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu enjoyed a memorable Wednesday as he registered his first-ever victory over the reigning world No. 1 Grand Master Magnus Carlsen in the third round of the ongoing Norway Chess 2024 tournament.

Praggnanandhaa is now leading the tournament with USA’s Fabiano Caruana in second place following his win over China’s Ding Liren.

USA’s GM Christopher Hikaru Nakamura felt the urge to take more chances against the youngsters led to Carlsen’s undoing against Praggnanandhaa.

“I wish Magnus would take these chances against me or against Fabi. I have this theory that when Magnus is playing the younger kids specifically he wants to sort of prove a point, he wants to go after them and try to beat them and he takes far more risks than he does against us old folks!” Nakamura was quoted as saying by Chess.com.

“I kind of feel that I have enough experience at this level and I can beat these players, but I have to play my best for that and that’s what I’m trying to do. That’s kind of the mindset,” Praggnanandhaa was quoted as saying by Chess.com.

Round 3 Results

1. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu 3-0 Magnus Carlsen
2. Fabiano Caruana 3-0 Ding Liren
3. Hikaru Nakamura 1.5-1 Alireza Firouza
4. Anna Muzychuk 1-1.5 Vaishali Rameshbabu
5. Pia Cramling 1-1.5 Ju Wenjun
6. Koneru Humpy 1.5-1 Lei Tingjie

“I’m feeling good. The game was quite interesting. I got a very good position from the opening. I kind of misplayed it at some point. I allowed bishop e3, f6… then I was told that I still played correctly. Maybe I was better throughout the game,” the Indian Grand Master was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

However, Praggnanandhaa didn’t seem very pleased with his efforts despite the win and wants to push harder.

“I don’t know, I will have to check. I didn’t think I played really well. I did find some best moves. It’s not my best game for sure,” he mentioned.