Teen chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa pulled off a major upset at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas, toppling world champion Magnus Carlsen in a commanding Round 4 victory. The 19-year-old Indian Grandmaster wrapped up the game in just 39 moves, marking one of the most dominant wins of his career. With this powerful performance, Praggnanandhaa continues to cement his place among the world’s elite, adding to Carlsen’s growing list of defeats against India’s rising chess stars.Playing with the white pieces, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa delivered a near-flawless performance, maintaining control from the very first move. He recorded an impressive accuracy rate of 93.9%, while Magnus Carlsen struggled with an unusually low 84.9%. The 10-minute + 10-second increment game saw the 19-year-old Indian Grandmaster outplay the five-time world champion with remarkable poise and tactical brilliance. The win not only put Praggnanandhaa at the top of Group White but also marked a historic milestone — he has now defeated Carlsen in all three major time formats: Classical, Rapid, and Blitz.”I like Freestyle more than Classical right now,” Praggnanandhaa said in a post-game interview, his relaxed tone underscoring the maturity and fearlessness with which he approached the matchup. The Las Vegas leg of the Grand Slam is especially symbolic, as it’s a tournament co-founded by Carlsen himself, built around the innovative Freestyle (Chess960) format. That made the Indian’s win even more impactful, as he outplayed the tournament’s creator on his own turf.Magnus Carlsen began his Las Vegas campaign on a strong note with consecutive wins over Vincent Keymer and Levon Aronian. However, his momentum faltered midway through the group stage. A draw with Javokhir Sindarov in Round 3 signaled the shift, followed by a critical loss to Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in Round 4. The setback deepened as Carlsen fell to American GM Wesley So in Round 5 and was held to another draw by Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Round 6, marking a challenging stretch for the World No. 1.Despite closing the group stage with a win over Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva, Magnus Carlsen’s four-point tally wasn’t enough to secure a direct spot in the knockouts. Forced into a playoff against Levon Aronian for the final berth from Group White, Carlsen suffered a shock double defeat. The result saw him finish fifth and crash out before the quarterfinals—an unusually early exit for the player often hailed as the greatest of all time.India’s Mixed Fortunes at Freestyle Chess Grand SlamPraggnanandhaa topped Group White with 4.5 points—tied with Sindarov and Abdusattorov but ahead on tiebreaks—thanks to key wins over Carlsen, Keymer, and Assaubayeva. Fellow Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi also made it to the championship bracket from Group Black, finishing third behind Nakamura and Niemann. However, Vidit Gujrathi faced an early exit, ending last in the same group.
