Praggnanandhaa Defeats Magnus Carlsen in Big Win at Las Vegas Chess Tournament
Praggnanandhaa Defeats Magnus Carlsen in Big Win at Las Vegas Chess Tournament
India’s young Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a major surprise by defeating world number one Magnus Carlsen at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour held in Las Vegas.
The 19-year-old chess prodigy beat Carlsen in just 39 moves during Round 4 of the group stage. The match used a fast time format — 10 minutes per player with a 10-second bonus after each move.
Praggnanandhaa has now defeated Carlsen in all three chess formats — Classical, Rapid, and Blitz. He is currently sharing the top position in Group White with 4.5 points.
The last 6 minutes of Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa beating Magnus Carlsen to take sole lead in his group at Freestyle Chess Las Vegas!
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) July 16, 2025
Enjoy as Sagar, Amruta and Harshit commentate on this game – it's 4 AM in India now! pic.twitter.com/NcWA2xvcvY
Carlsen Out of Title Race
Carlsen started strong in the tournament with two wins but then lost his rhythm. He was defeated by Praggnanandhaa and Wesley So, and drew two other games. To stay in the title race, he had to win his last match and then win a tiebreak. While he did beat Bibisara Assaubayeva in the final round, he lost both tiebreak games to Levon Aronian, and was eliminated from the title race.
Carlsen will now continue in the lower bracket, where the best he can finish is third.
Tournament Format
The tournament is taking place at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Sixteen top players were divided into two groups — White Group and Black Group. The top four players from each group move to the upper bracket, where they compete for the championship. The bottom four go to a placement round to play for final rankings and prize money.
From Group White, Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Javokhir Sindarov each scored 4.5 points to lead the table. Aronian followed with 4 points, just ahead of Carlsen.
In Group Black, American star Hikaru Nakamura dominated with 6 out of 7 points. Hans Niemann, Fabiano Caruana, and India’s Arjun Erigaisi also qualified. Caruana drew his first six games but won the last one to secure a spot.
What’s Next?
Now, all 16 players will play in the knockout rounds. The quarterfinals begin on Thursday. The winners will move ahead in the upper bracket for a chance to win the $200,000 first prize, while the losers will drop into the lower bracket for one last chance to fight for a high finish.
