The young prodigy was emotional after defeating his own hero.

By Ashima Sethi

India’s 16-year old chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa did the unthinkable on Monday of this week when he defeated five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen after 39 moves during the Airthings Masters Chess. R Praggnanandhaa, lovingly known by the media as Praggu, is the youngest player and only the third Indian after pioneers Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna to beat the Norwegian world number 1.

Praggu is the youngest talent at the event, forcing him to stand his ground against several top 10 players including Levon Aronian, who he also defeated last Sunday; Ian Nepomniatchi, Anish Giri, and Ding Liren. India’s most promising chess talent, Praggu has been on everyone’s radar for a few years now. In 2018, the Chennai-born star became the world’s second youngest Grandmaster at only 12 years old.

After the match, Praggu was reportedly absolutely drained by the exciting game that he told reporters from the International Chess Federation that he was just keen to “hit the bed.” We’re certain that under the immense pressure of being the youngest contender hasn’t allowed him much sleep in the last few weeks. In the past, Praggu has been vocal about how he views Carlsen as his hero, claiming he “[always] has a solution for even the most complicated problem.”

Although Praggu is very much still at the beginning of his career with many years to go on his journey to becoming a World Champion himself, we’re certain that he will be remembering this moment for a long time as it’s safe to say that not everyone gets to defeat their hero and inspiration at only 16 years old.