Praggnanandhaa: ‘Told my dad I beat Magnus Carlsen, he just said “good” and went back to sleep’

Beating Magnus Carlsen, the greatest player of the generation, should be a big deal, right? Even now, when the world no 1 is starting to pick and choose his tournaments and turns up without too much prep, a victory over him calls for much celebration in the sport. It was no different for chess prodigy, R Praggnanandhaa, when he trumped the Norwegian chess king at the age of 16, three years ago. But Praggnanandhaa recently shared a hilarious anecdote of what happened when he defeated Carlsen for the first time in 2022 in an online chess game.

It was that game that made Praggnanandhaa a household name in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar among those who posted congratulatory messages on X. But back in Praggnanandhaa’s own home, the reaction was much more muted.

“Since it was 2 am in the night, at that time my parents were asleep. I went and woke my dad up and said: ‘I won’. He said, ‘Good’ and then he went back to sleep because he had to go to the office the next day,” Praggnanandhaa said with a chuckle on Raj Shamani’s Figuring Out podcast.

INTERACTIVE: How Praggnanandhaa defeated Magnus Carlsen in 2022

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Asked what he was thinking, Praggnanandhaa, who celebrates his 20th birthday on Sunday, said: “I wasn’t thinking anything. I was just playing and I got my chance out of nowhere. Everything happened in like a few minutes. It was an online rapid game. I was quite happy.

“I was just excited like I wasn’t expecting it and then suddenly… I mean the game was also going in a trend where he was putting pressure on me and then suddenly I got my chance. I I had to play some accurate moves which I did and I won. So um I was just very happy and then I also didn’t expect so much reaction from outside after that. So that was also I think a good thing for the game. I think it brought more attention,” Pragnanandhaa added.

ALSO READ | Praggnanandhaa explains what makes Magnus Carlsen great and answers what he has that world no 1 doesn’t

“I was more excited about the fact that I just beat Magnus than the actual game. I didn’t think the game was particularly great or anything like that. I did analyze it later. I realized I didn’t really play well. It was like the fifth game of the day or something. We were already tired and it was obvious that we were not not playing our best but I won and I think it was important for me back then. It gave me a lot of confidence and I realized that the top players are not invincible, you can beat them. Until you actually get that first win, you always feel like they are just in a different world. But once you beat them, you know that it’s possible.

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Praggnanandhaa interview with Raj Shamani

Praggnanandhaa beat Carlsen for the first time at the Champions Chess Tour in 2022. Then, at 2024 Norway Chess came Pragg’s first classical win over Carlsen. In July 2025, Praggnanandhaa pulled off a stunning double over Carlsen within three days at the Las Vegas Freestyle Chess event. After handing Carlsen a defeat in a classification game for quarter-final spots earlier in the tournament, Praggnanandhaa handed Carlsen a fresh defeat late on Saturday evening in the classification games to end up in third spot at the event. However, after that win, Carlsen bounced back by handing Pragg three defeats in a row to win the contest in a tiebreak.

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