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Indian teen chess grandmaster beats Magnus Carlsen in online rapid tournament
- wanderingmind 5y agoPrevious posting of agadmator analysis of the game https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30436926 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30436926
- BeefWellington 5y agoAgadmator is a gem of a content creator.
- KingOfCoders 5y agoTotally agree, love listening to him, and I still wonder how he is doing it (beside the hard work). With some it is easy to see, with him I struggle.
- fahrradflucht 5y agoEven Prags coach pointed out [1], let's not get carried away. This was a great achievement but the pressure this creates can be very bad for him in the longer run. [1]: https://mobile.twitter.com/Rameshchess/status/1496499322246299653 https://mobile.twitter.com/Rameshchess/status/14964993222462...
- password54321 5y agoPressure is inevitable. Part of any competition is learning how to deal with it. Magnus has to deal with loses like this becoming big news.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y agoMost top players do beat Carlsen from time to time, especially in blitz/rapid events. Why is this news?
- james-redwood 5y agoHe’s the youngest to do so.
- pknerd 5y agoI am a Pakistani and I do not hesitate to admit that Indians(Hindus specially) have been found quite good at math and chess and now software/IT. I am not sure whether there is some research about it why is it like that? some diet/belief or some other matter? Happy to learn more about it.
- kzrdude 5y agoVishy Anand inspired the up and coming indian chess players.
- pknerd 5y agoVIshwanath Anand is a Hindu
- cocoland2 5y agoCome from the same region as these folks. There is no correlation to religion in a lot of this. I studied in Govt. institutions where no one cared about a lot of religion , it was just race to the top. I understand there is a lot more polarity now , trust me this does not have a thing!. The most inspirational engineer all of us looked to was Dr. APJ. Peer groups matter
- kangalioo 5y agoI always thought it's due to parental/societal pressure to excel
- teatree 5y agoIt has nothing to do with religion IMO. Education is given a lot of importance in southern India, that could have helped a tiny bit, but apart from that I don't see how it is relevant. Dr Abdul Kalam is widely revered in India for his contributions to rocket propulsion, pretty sure he was good at math & physics as well.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- TedShiller 5y agoRapid tournament, not a big deal.
- tibbar 5y agoThis was during an online rapid tournament. So still very impressive, but Magnus loses games online all the time and I'm not _quite_ sure why this is news. It is interesting which junior players Magnus invited to the tournament, though - besides Praggnanandhaa, there's also Andrey Esipenko, who _did_ beat Magnus in a classical game once at the prestigious Tata Steel Masters 2021, and also Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who beat Magnus late last year en route to becoming the World Rapid Champion at 17 years old. A fun group! With Vincent Keymer in the mix too, you're only really missing Nihal Sarin and (of course) Firouzja for many of the future faces of chess. [Edit: the article says that Praggnanandhaa is the youngest player ever to beat Magnus since 2013, which would definitely be newsworthy. I think the article must be leaving out important context, since this tournament is (1) online, (2) speed chess and (3) not FIDE rated, so it typically wouldn't be included in records, and Magnus has almost certainly lost random online games to younger players before. I'm guessing the article is referencing some other source without providing the relevant criteria, which is why it looked a little weird to me.]
- KingOfCoders 5y agoBecause India. [Edit] Thanks for the comments, in now way is this meant prejudiced and derogatory, I have worked with many excellent Indian colleagues. The country normally associated with Chess is Russia, lately India got a huge wave of great talents like Vidit Gujrathi or Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.
- yumraj 5y ago> Because India. Do you have something against India or Indians? That too a 16 year old Indian kid.. Hopefully that is not part of your CTO coaching..
- KingOfCoders 5y agoThanks for the comment, in no way is this meant prejudiced and derogatory, I have worked with many excellent Indian colleagues.
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- cute_boi 5y agoGreat! Congratulation for achieving a remarkable feat at a young age. I do have one general question, not specific to him. I am just asking what other people think about such a situation. Is there a scientific method to verify the age? Because I have seen my friends reducing their age intentionally to take part in international competitions. I know there are prodigies, and even if he is not 16 it doesn't matter to me because he beat the world champion. He deserves the accolade :)
- sg47 5y agoDoes he look older than 16 to you?
- cute_boi 5y agoNo! That's why it is a general question, not targeted at him. Also, my friends claimed to be 14 when they were 16 because the international competition was restricted to 15 years old. However, in this game age doesn't matter, so it is irrelevant whether he is older than 16 or not.
- usrbinbash 5y ago> it is a general question As a general answer: As far as I know, there is currently no exact scientific method to measure and determine the age of a person. Certain techniques can give more or less rough estimates, however a precise technique that works for all age groups is tricky. The following article is from 2014, but gives a good glance at several existing methods and directions of research. https://www.vox.com/2014/10/20/6939271/age-test-aging-epigenetics-clock-biological-chronological-scandal-telomeres https://www.vox.com/2014/10/20/6939271/age-test-aging-epigen... It should be noted, that many techniques in this area are invasive, requiring blood/tissue sampling and/or exposing a person to ionizing radiation (XRays), which makes them prohibitive in many scenarios.
- whatshisface 5y ago>What he's saying: When asked on Chess24 he'd celebrate beating Carsen, Praggnanandhaa said: "I think it’s about just going to bed, because I don’t think I will have dinner at 2:30 in the morning." I don't comprehend this quote or even the sentence Axios introduced it with. ("asked on Chess24 he'd celebrate"?) What is this saying?
- tibbar 5y agoChess24 is the chess platform hosting the tournament. The sentence should read something like "When asked on Chess24 (the platform) how he would celebrate..."
- LukeShu 5y agoDialog from the linked video: > Interviewer: It must be a big day for you, beating the world champion. Will you sort of have a nice dinner, celebrate at all? Or is it just about going to bed now and get ready for day 3? > Praggnanandhaa: I think it's about just going to bed, because I don't think I will have dinner at 2:30 in the morning. Link with timestamp to the quoted bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QcPCeq9L14&t=224s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QcPCeq9L14&t=224s The tournament is scheduled in the Central European Time timezone, while Praggnanandhaa is in India Standard Time. The match in question was scheduled to start at 8:00PM CET, which is 12:30AM IST.
- dane-pgp 5y agoTo be fair, Carlsen was beating players much more stronger then him when Praggnanandhaa was... Never mind.
- glouwbug 5y agoWhen I play online chess I load up a master AI and input my opponent's moves
- known 5y ago
- adityasaky 5y agohttps://fiftytwo.in/story/madras-check/ https://fiftytwo.in/story/madras-check/ Here’s an essay from last year that talks about him, his sister, and the culture of chess in Chennai.
- ghufran_syed 5y agoThis player is obviously a really good chess player, but I wouldn't get too focused on his exact age - families in India and Pakistan often register their children's age as younger than their true age, for girls because they think it will give them a few more years to find a good "match" for marriage once they are adults, and also sometimes for boys if they are small for their true age, to prevent bullying and help them do better academically. Source: personal family members who have done this - you ask the kids what their date of birth is, they ask "the real one or the paper one"? Other sources: https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/age-fraud-in-cricket-bcci-offers-amnesty-to-players-or-face-two-year-ban-6537184/ https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/age-fraud-i... https://thewire.in/sport/why-age-fraud-in-indian-sports-is-so-prevalent https://thewire.in/sport/why-age-fraud-in-indian-sports-is-s... https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-the-how-and-why-of-age-fraud-and-verification-6540122/ https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-the-ho...
- aldebran 5y agoThere's no reason to suspect that's what Rameshbabu's parents have done. There's no reason to bring this up. With a billion+ people everything is technically possible. Painting everything with the same brush isn't helping anything.
- ghufran_syed 5y agoDo I “suspect” them? Of course not, I don’t even know them. But are you disagreeing with the idea that the probability of an inaccurate age is non-trivial in these sorts of situations? Same as when discussing world records of “world’s oldest person” - data inaccuracy should always be a consideration if you care about understanding reality. But if you’re just looking for warm fuzzy feels, then I can see why you might take offense at someone interrupting that with non-fuzzy facts.
- cocoland2 5y agoYeah , tournaments have been cancelled https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/pakistan-under-13-and-under-16-tournaments-suspended-over-age-fraud-1297360 https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/pakistan-under-13-and-und...
- birken 5y agoThis is noted in another comment, but it should be a top level comment... Magnus actively has COVID and has said that it was affecting his energy levels and ability to calculate during the early rounds of the tournament (during which this game happened). And Pragg wasn't even the lowest rated player to beat Magnus this tournament! Eric Hansen, aka popular chess streamer "chessbrah", is even lower rated and also beat Magnus, which again you would not expect if Magnus were playing his usual level. So still a great win and great accomplishment for Pragg, but a little context would have been nice in the article.
- ycombinete 5y agoTo be fair Prag outplayed Magnus in their game, whereas Magnus hung a piece vs. Hansen in an otherwise equal position and resigned immediately
- password54321 5y agoGive credit where its due. Eric Hansen also beat Nepo who is having a great tournament.
- kzrdude 5y agoThanks for giving it.
- csbartus 5y agoI'm actively following chess. I was confused by the article title since I know Magnus was playing recently with somebody else (Le, Quang Liem) in the quarterfinals of the tournament. After reading the article I've got more confused. When this is happened? What tournament? Which game format? Finally I've realized this is just another PR stunt / clickbait / classic media article / yellow journalism and I'm just wasting my time.
- yesenadam 5y agoBen Finegold made a video in early 2018 of some of Prag's best games, when he was 12 and already extremely impressive. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loRnvtNLv4w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loRnvtNLv4w p.s. warning for uninitiated: Finegold is equal parts comedy and chess teacher. (I love both parts)
- kklisura 5y agoI remember reading G.H. Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology that mathematics is young man's game. Can same be said for chess? Is chess a young man's game?
- kzrdude 5y agoYes. Though people are consistently impressed by how Vishy Anand keeping up his level, he's 52 now I believe. He was also "late" to reach the world top compared with many of the newer chess stars like Carlsen or Alireza. World top 10 is a young man's game I believe but you can never discount a former Super-GM, they are still super strong.
- lupire 5y agoVishy is great but he was better when he was younger.
- benreesman 5y agoSide comment, but IMHO Blitz/fast-format/online is good for the game. Superstars playing it creates interest, and a young up-and-comer scoring one off Magnus creates interest. Photogenic, media-savvy folks like Magnus or the Bortez sisters, or plenty of other examples are obviously attracting some views due to celebrity, but more people watching serious chess is just that!
- sAbakumoff 5y agoIn the same tournament, Carlesn also lost to NEPO and ESIPENKO(who is just 2 years older than Praggnanandhaa) There is a very simple explanation for that - Magnus has COVID right now.