Picture Credit: Twitter

Picture Credit: Twitter

India's rising chess star R Praggnanandhaa finished third at the Tata Steel Chess 2023 on September 8, Friday in Kolkata. The chess prodigy who ended his World Championships 2023 at second spot stood third along with Alexander Grischuk and Vidit Gujhrati. Notably, the 18-year-old promising talent of the Indian subcontinent came on the back of a loss against the five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen. 

On the other hand, the former world rapid chess champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the title. On his first trip to India, Maxime finished at the top with seven points, followed by second-placed Teimour Radjavov, with 5.5 points. Praggnanandhaa started his campaign on a brilliant note and managed to win two games. 

However, the Chennai-born fell to India's No. 1 D Gukesh, who recently replaced the legendary Grand Master Vishwanathan Anand to be the No.1 chess player. Praggnanandhaa beat Gujhrati in his 38th move as he delivered checkmate. Following that he clashed against Gukesh but failed to move ahead while his opponent secured a win after his 45 moves. 

Praggnanandhaa managed to recover and took down the current rapid chess champion Arjun Erigasi in his 39th move. Notably,  Praggnanandhaa recently rose to fame when he took down World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and World No.3 Fabiano Caruana before he almost defeated Magnus Carlsen.