Former World Chess Champion and Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has congratulated Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa for his incredible run in the Chess World Cup.
Impressed with the teen sensation's win over world No.3 Fabiano Caruana in Baku on Monday, the former world champion Kasparov took to X formerly Twitter, to laud the 18-year-old's feats and his mother's efforts.
"Congrats to @rpragchess -- and to his mother. As someone whose proud mama accompanied me to every event, it's a special kind of support! The Chennai Indian defeated two New York cowboys! He has been very tenacious in difficult positions," Kasparov tweeted.
Praggnanandhaa's coach RB Ramesh expressed his immense pride in ward's exceptional performance in the global tournament and said he is optimistic about the teenager's chances in view of the openings strategies discussed.
"I am extremely proud that he has been doing phenomenally well in this World Cup and he qualified for the World Cup final. And what I hear is he is the youngest to do so. And also he is the only Indian to qualify for the final," coach Ramesh told ANI.
Continuing his dream run, Praggnanandhaa on Monday stunned Caruana 3.5-2.5 via the tie-break in the semi-finals to set up a summit clash with world number one and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway at the FIDE's premier event.
Praggnanandhaa defeated Caruana after four rapid tiebreak games and thereafter stormed into the final of the showpiece.
After the two-game classical series ended 1-1, the Indian prodigy outlasted the highly-rated American GM in a battle of wits in a nerve-wracking tie-breaker.
Praggnanandhaa also became the first Indian since Viswanathan Anand -- also a five-time world champion -- in 2002 to make it to the final of the FIDE World Cup.
Praggnanandhaa has already secured a spot in next year's Candidates event.
The final matches of the FIDE World Cup will begin on Tuesday.
