The struggles continued for 19-year-old New Yorker Hans Niemann, who has entertained everyone throughout with his interviews. The USD210,000 elite esports tournament, held at Florida's Eden Roc Miami Beach, had gone into its final day with all eyes on Carlsen and Pragg's eagerly-awaited showdown.īut in the other matches, Alireza Firouzja was battling to overtake Pragg at the last hurdle and secured at least a third place finish with a 2.5-1.5 win over Levon Aronian. Pragg ended the tournament on a high, securing the runner-up spot.Ĭarlsen hailed his tournament win a 'great result'. In the final tiebreak, Pragg won the first and then ended it in a dramatic second game in which Carlsen blundered badly. 'I think Magnus just wanted to have more fun!' Pragg, who still had work to do to finish second, was quoted as saying in the release. In the fourth game, the champion looked to be steering the game to a draw but blundered in the endgame. Today I haven't been able to find a rhythm at all, but hopefully I can relax a bit in the last game.'Ĭarlsen did relax - but it barely mattered to him. Reacting before the final rapid game, Carlsen said, 'This game was very nervy, I think, for both of us. Finally, he ran out of steam in the third.Ĭarlsen clinched the win that guaranteed him the title and in classic Magnus-style - with a piece of endgame brilliance and a huge sense of relief, according to a release on Sunday by the organisers of the event, Play Magnus Group.
The youngster had chances in the first game and then had to defend like a lion in game 2. Pragg and Carlsen were neck-and-neck throughout the whole tournament with the youngster putting in a real statement performance throughout.īut in Round 7 of the all-play-all event, Pragg faced the real acid test - world No. The result also stretches his lead at the top of the USD1.6 million Tour leaderboard and wins him the tournament's unique NFT trophy. The win in the third rapid game meant that Carlsen took his total to 16 points, and thus emerged the champion, winning the FTX Crypto Cup for the second year in a row.Ĭarlsen notched up a third win of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour season and his first Major win.
Iranian-French teenager Alireza Firouzja claimed three points in the final round to tie with Pragg at 15 points but eventually had to be satisfied with the third place. He dominated the blitz games to win two points, taking his total to 15. In the four rapid games, Praggnanandhaa created a number of chances in the drawn first game, defended superbly in the second - another draw -, went down in a tense third encounter before capitalising on Carlsen's mistake to win the fourth. But Carlsen, who was steering the fourth game to a draw, blundered in the endgame and the Indian capitalised on it to take the match into blitz tiebreaks. Starting the round two points behind the Norwegian Carlsen, the 17-year-old Pragg was looking down and out after losing the third of the four rapid games.
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