Wait for the Chess World Cup 2023 champion continues as Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Magnus Carlsen played out another draw in the second game of the final of the 10th edition of the tournament on Wednesday, August 23. The world no.1 and the current world champion Magnus Carlsen was held off by India's 18-year-old prodigy after 30 moves of play.
Both players refused to back down again in a quiet game and shook hands after 90 minutes and now the game heads to a tiebreak which will be played tomorrow (August 23) at Azerbaijan's Baku. Magnus, five-time, world champion remains the favourite to win the tiebreaks but highlighters Praggnananndhaa's 'strong' record in tiebreaks against strong players after today's draw.
"Praggnanandhaa has already played a lot of tiebreaks against very strong players... I know he is very strong. If I have some energy, if I have a good day, obviously I will have good chances," Magnus Carlsen told reporters after 2nd gameplay on Wednesday.
After the 2nd game, Praggnanandhaa revealed that Magnus hinted at a draw game today and he was fine with the game going into the tiebreakers.
"I didn't really think that he would go for a quick draw today, but I realised when he went for this line that he wanted to make a draw; I was also fine with that. I also feel exhausted, as I said in the previous interviews. Now I can just give everything tomorrow and relax after that," Praggnanandhaa said after the 2nd game draw.
Praggnanandhaa also added that both he and Magnus were tired today due to a lack of rest between the two final games. When asked about the necessity of the rest day, the Indian star said, "I did feel that he did not have a lot of energy. I hope he recovers tomorrow."
