Magnus Carlsen Versus Pragg For The Chess World Cup Title

Magnus Carlsen must vanquish one of the stars from the so-called next generation of chess players to win his first World Cup tournament title.

Carlsen, 31, faces Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, an 18-year-old from India, on Tuesday in the first game of the FIDE World Cup final in Baku, Azerbaijan. The two will play one classical time control game tomorrow and another on Wednesday.

The scoring is simple: A player grabs one point for a win and a half-point for a draw. A losing player doesn’t receive any fraction of a point. If the score is even after the two classical games, tiebreaks with increasingly shorter time controls will decide the winner.

The World Cup is a grueling knockout tournament featuring eight rounds, an event that even Carlsen has yet to win. This is also the first time he’s reached the final.

Pragg, the No. 31 seed out of 206 players, beat American Fabiano Caruana, the No. 2 player in the world by rating, in tiebreaks on Monday to clinch a spot in the final. A former World Chess Championship finalist, Caruna closed as a modest betting odds favorite over Pragg.

Carlsen has occupied the world No. 1 rating for over 10 years, while Pragg cracked the world top 30 for the first time during the 2023 World Cup. Amongst the most promising chess prodigies in the world for a handful of years, Pragg had lacked a major breakthrough. En route to the final, Pragg knocked off No. 2 seed Hikaru Nakamura.

At Bwin Sportsbook, a regulated sports betting site in several European jurisdictions, Carlsen opened at -400. For a $100 profit on Carlsen, you’d have to risk $400.

Pragg had opening odds of +270. You’d profit $270 on a $100 winning bet on the youngster.

Oddsmakers pegged the chances of the match going to tiebreaks at 50-50, but there’s substantial vigorish with -120 odds on both sides of this chess betting market.

Carlsen Gets Much-Needed Opponent

Carlsen has been the undisputed best chess player for the majority of this century, but his career is in a state of transition.

He vacated his World Chess Championship title in 2023, citing a lack of motivation in defending against the same opponent, Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, whom he convincingly beat in 2021. There wasn’t much to gain in playing another grueling 14-game match with Nepo, according to Carlsen.

However, Carlsen is a true ambassador of the game, saying that he would have defended had a different opponent qualified for the World Chess Championship match. He specifically mentioned 20-year-old Iranian Alireza Firouzja as an opponent he would’ve played, not wanting to deprive arguably the greatest junior talent in the world of the opportunity.

He said he’s finished playing the World Chess Championship, so the chess world will not see the spectacle of the changing of the guard for the world title.

Thus, the World Cup final is perhaps the best opportunity chess fans have in terms of a rising talent challenging the G.O.A.T. for a major championship.

According to 2700chess.com, Pragg is one of six junior players rated above 2700, the threshold for unofficial “super” grandmaster status. It’s unclear which junior will one day become world champion and perhaps world No. 1 by rating, but it could be Pragg.

This week’s World Cup final will be brief compared to a World Championship match, but the significance is no less historic given the circumstances.

Photo of Carlsen in Round 7 via worldcup2023.fide.com