In the Freestyle Grand Slam chess competition in Las Vegas last night, teenage Indian Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa maintained his outstanding play in 2025, demonstrating his versatility and flexibility across formats as he scored a historic victory over Magnus Carlsen, the top player in the world. Pragg, who was playing the white pieces, defeated his older opponent with a powerful performance that put him in the lead of his group at the competition and on course to advance to the quarterfinals.

Pragg's statement Freestyle triumph, which he won over the creator of the Grand Slam Chess Tour, indicates his obvious desire to recover from a terrible ninth-place finish in a previous leg in Paris, even though he is no stranger to significant outcomes and victories against Carlsen.

Carlsen has previously won the Grand Slam Tour's previous two legs in Karlsruhe and Paris, and placed third in the first leg in Weissenhaus, Germany, giving him the lead in the overall standings.

But in Nevada, the player regarded as the best in chess history suffered a setback when he placed fifth in the group after falling to Levon Aronian in a tiebreaker. Following consecutive defeats against Pragg and Wesley In the group round, Carlsen lost the tiebreaker for fourth place to Aronian, which was a major surprise in the larger 16-player competition and gave the likes of Pragg a clear route to a championship.

With 4.5 points after seven rounds, Praggnanandha was in the shared lead in the White Group, indicating that his progress was secure. In the present arrangement, two groups of eight grandmasters compete for the top four, with the top four from each group moving on to the championship round and the bottom four competing in the bottom bracket. Pragg earned his spot in the championship round with notable victories against Vincent Keymer and WGM Bibisara Assaubayeva in addition to his victory over Carlsen.

Arjun Erigaisi also advanced from the Black Group, placing third overall with a solid performance next to Pragg. He is eligible after questionable GM Hans Niemann and Hikaru Nakamura, who is now probably the favorite in the competition. The event's final Indian player, Vidit Gujrathi, fared poorly, placing last in the Black Group.

Read Also: Lionel Messi’s Incredible Streak Ends as Inter Miami Falls Goalless in Defeat