Pragnanandhaa won in freestyle: India’s Grandmaster Rameshbabu Pragyanand defeated world number 1 chess player Magnus Carlson. Pragyanananda won this victory in Round 4 of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam held in Las Vegas on Wednesday, 16 July. This 19 -year -old chess player defeated the world number one player in only 39 tricks. This is a historic victory in Pragyananda’s Las Vegas.

Pragyanananda won 39 tricks

Grandmaster Rameshbabu Pragyananda played the game according to himself from the beginning to the end. In this game, Pragyananand was playing with 93.9 percent accuracy, while Carlson’s Akshayi was 84.9 percent, which was less than normal. This victory of Pragyananand is taking his career to heights. Now Pragyanananda has defeated Magnus Carlson in all three big formats. Pragyanand has won in classical, rapid and blitz.

Pragnanandhaa Beats Carlsen and takes the sole lead in their group on 3.5/4! https://t.co/bulo6wdydu pic.twitter.com/uqvc0ljljlzk

– chess24 (@chess24com) July 16, 2025

‘Freestyle likes more’

Rameshbabu Pragyananda said in a post game interview after defeating Magnus Carlson that ‘I like more freestyle than classical at this time’. The relaxed tone and fearlessness of Pragyanand has brought him to such a point today that he is waving India in the whole world. Grandmaster D Gukesh has also defeated world number one Magnus Carlson.

Sports Minister praised

India’s Sports Minister Mansukh Mandavia has also shared the post on Pragyanandanand’s victory. Mansukh Mandavia wrote that another proud moment for India in chess. The Sports Minister further wrote that at the age of 19, Grandmaster R Pragyananda has demonstrated his talent by defeating World No. One Magnus Carlson in only 39 moves at Freestyle Chase Grand Slam.

Also read

NZ vs sa highlights: Henry and Dafi’s great performance, New Zealand defeated South Africa, read what happened in the match

Grand Chess Tournament: D. Gukesh, the young star of Indian chess, once again proved that he can also beat the veterans with his game. In the sixth round of the ongoing Grand Chase tournament in Jagreb, Croatia, Gukesh has defeated the world’s number 1 player Magnus Carlson. Interestingly, before the match, Carlson made fun of Gukesh as a weak player, but Gukesh has responded to his joke not with words but with his tricks.

Jokes before match, beat in chase

Speaking to the media, Magnus had said, “I will take this match just as I am playing with a weak player. Gukesh has not done anything so far that he can be counted among the best players in this format.”

Carlson’s comment was an attempt to take Gukesh lightly, but Gukesh did not make any statement on this, but has shattered his pride by defeating him in a straight chess match.

Karlson defeated for the second consecutive time

This is not the first time Gukesh has defeated Carlson. Earlier, in the Norway Chess tournament, he shocked everyone by defeating Carlson. With that victory, he joined a few selected Indians who defeated Carlson in classical format. Before him, R. of India Pragyananda has also tasted the defeat to Carlson. Now in the Grand Chase tournament, Gukesh registered a second consecutive win and showed that his success is not a coincidence, but the result of hard work and talent.

Gukesh’s performance so far

On the first day of the Grand Chess tournament, Gukesh started well by winning two out of three matches. After this, in the fourth round, he defeated Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdoustorov and defeated America’s Fabiano Karuana in the fifth round. Now he has reached the top position with 10 marks in the tournament by defeating Carlson in the sixth round.

Gary Kasparov tightened up on Carlson

Former world champion Gary Kasparov, describing Gukesh’s victory as special, taunted Carlson’s defeat, saying, “This is not just the second defeat of Magnus, this is a very big defeat for him. Now we should question Carlson’s supremacy.”

Gary’s statement has also been shared by the World Chase Federation on its social media, which makes this victory even more special.

There are still two matches left

The match was part of the series of three matches. Its first match was played in the rapid format. Now the remaining two matches will be in Blitz format, so it will be interesting to see if Karlson will be able to return to this series or Gukesh will remain dominated.