Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated India's latest chess sensation R Praggnanandhaa for his historic win over world number 1 Magnus Carlsen. The 16-year-old had earlier defeated world champion, Carlsen, in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters, which is an online rapid chess competition.
PM Modi in his congratulatory message for Praggnanandhaa wrote that the whole nation is rejoicing his victory over Carlsen, while he personally wished the teen sensation good luck for his future endeavours.
Taking to Twitter to congratulate Praggnanandhaa, who is the fifth-youngest grandmaster of all time, PM Modi wrote, "We are all rejoicing on the success of the young genius R Praggnanandhaa. Proud of his accomplishment of winning against the noted champion Magnus Carlsen. I wish the talented Praggnanandhaa the very best for his future endeavours."
READ| Teen Chess sensation Praggnanandhaa misses out of Airthings Masters quarterfinals after beating Magnus Carlsen
Unfortunately, Praggnanandhaa finished 11th at the ongoing Airthings Masters and thereby failed to reach the quarterfinal stage of the championship.
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The 16-year-old started the final day of the preliminary rounds with a draw against German Vincent Keymer in round 13 before going down to Hans Mokko Niemann (USA) in the next.
He had earlier stunned Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round. He finished 11th in the standings with 19 points with the top eight going through to the knockout phase.
READ| Meet Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa, who became only third Indian to beat world no 1 Magnus Carlsen
Earlier, the teen grandmaster's elder sister Vaishali had revealed how Praggnanandhaa prepared for his bout against the world number 1.
"Over the last ten days, he's been preparing his mind for this online tournament. From staying wide awake in the late hours to waking up late in the day, he changed his routine to stay extremely focussed," revealed his sister.
For the unversed, since 2014, Praggnanadhaa is being coached by Ramesh, a renowned Grandmaster from Chennai. From early 2021 onwards, he is also being specially mentored by Chess legend Viswanathan Anand.
