The first game between Indian teenage sensation Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa and World No 1 Magnus Carlsen ended in a draw after 35 moves in their FIDE World Cup final in Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, playing with white pieces, was ahead on time at the start of the contest, but was unable to press on his advantage and came under time trouble himself by the end.
Both players will return for Game 2 of the final tomorrow. They will play the second round of the final on Wednesday. The match will move into the tiebreaks on Thursday if the scores remain one-all at the end of the second classical round.
Praggnanandhaa had stunned World No 3 Fabiano Caruana on Monday via the tie-break in the semifinals to set up a summit clash with Carlsen at the FIDE World Cup.
Thanks to making it to the final, Praggnanandhaa became the third youngest player after the legendary Bobby Fischer and Carlsen to qualify for the Candidates tournament.
In the other game of the day to decide the third-place finisher, Azerbaijan’s Nijat Abasov defeated Caruana to take a 1-0 lead in their contest.
