New Delhi: Indian Grandmaster Vidit Santosh Gujrathi stunned world no. 1 Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in a Pro Chess League (PCL) match to earn his maiden victory over the five-time world champion.
After the stunning win over the Norwegian Wizard, the 28-year-old chess grandmaster Gujrathi joined the likes of fellow Indian GMs R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi in beating Carlsen.
Vidit is leading the Indian Yogis team in PCL that fielded Vidit, Vaishali, Raunak and Aronyak against Magnus, Aryan Tari, Razvan Preotu, and Jennifer Yu of Canada Chessbrahs in Tuesday’s game.
Going into the final round with a score deficit of one point, the Yogis needed to win the game by a big margin. As per the format, the team that first reaches the score of 8.5 wins the game. And the Yogis simply turned the tables by winning on all four boards with Vidit leading the pack on the top board.
“It is an amazing feeling to defeat the GOAT of Chess and I couldn’t have asked for a better moment. Striking victory at the crucial moment and the team winning on all four boards even makes it more special.
I’ve come very close on a few occasions to edge over Magnus but couldn’t capitalise on it. Glad that I’ve finally done it. Credit to all the players, team and most importantly our supporters. After an amazing performance, everyone’s mood in the team is very high and hopefully we make it big this time,” said Vidit, who is currently ranked number two in India and 19th in the World rankings.
The Pro Chess League is an online global chess league for teams from all over the world. The event features 16 teams playing rapid games for their piece of the 150,000 dollar prize fund.
–IANS
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