India No. 2 Vidit Gujrathi stuns world chess champion Magnus Carlsen | Chess News – Times of India

NAGPUR: Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi surprised world champion Magnus Carlsen with the black pieces in the ongoing Pro Chess League on Tuesday. The young Indian Yogis team outplayed the star studded line-up of Canada Chessbrahs.
India #2, Vidit has defeated Carlsen for the first time in a competitive game. With this, he joins the list of few Indian players who have managed to pull off a victory against the long standing World Champion.
Vidit is leading the Indian Yogis team. In the Pro Chess League match on Tuesday night, the Indian team fielded Vidit, Vaishali, Raunak and Aronyak against Magnus, Aryan Tari, Razvan Preotu and Jennifer Yu. 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 the four boards with Vidit leading the pack on the top board.

The Professional Rapid Online Chess League is operated by chess.com. It is the number one 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 prize fund. Top chess players Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Caruana, Anish Giri, MVL are also seen in action for their respective teams.
Vidit said: “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 out Magnus but couldn’t capitalize on it. Glad that I’ve finally done it. Credit to all the players, team and most important our supporters. After yesterday’s amazing performance, everyone’s mood in the team is very high and hopefully we make it big this time.”

The Nashik based GM is ranked 19th in the world and is working for ONGC.