In an anticlimax of sorts, the second game of the Chess World Cup final between Indian teen sensation Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Magnus Carlsen failed to throw a winner, as it ended in a draw after 30 moves in Baku on Wednesday.
The two players settled for a quiet draw in the second classical game after 90 minutes.
The champion will be decided via two tie-breaks on Thursday.
Five-time World champion Carlsen played a solid game with white pieces against Praggnanandhaa. The Indian did not face any trouble with black pieces, with the players agreeing to a draw after 30 moves in an equal Bishop ending.
The first game on Tuesday had ended in a stalemate after over four hours of play and 70-plus moves, following which Carlsen said he was a bit under the weather.
The 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa has been enjoying an incredible run in the tournament, having already beaten World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura and World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana to set up a final date against the Norwegian Grandmaster.
The results in the World Cup also helped Praggnanandhaa qualify for Candidates 2024 tournament, which will be held in Canada.
Praggnanandhaa is the third youngest player after the legendary Bobby Fischer and Carlsen to qualify for the Candidates tournament.
After the match, Carlsen told FIDE: "Praggnanandhaa has already played a lot of tie-breaks against very strong players... I know he is very strong. If I have some energy, if I have a good day, obviously I will have good chances."
"I am very grateful to the organisers, FIDE and the doctors and nurses, who got me some good treatment. Today, I am feeling a bit better but I still didn't feel like I had the energy for a full fight, so I thought, let's get one more day of rest.
"Hopefully, I will have more strength tomorrow," the Norwegian added.
The two tie-break games in rapid format will be played with a time control of 25 minutes for each player plus 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1.
If those two games also fail to throw a winner, two more games with time control of 5 minutes for each player will be played. There will be 3 seconds increment per move, starting from move 1.
Praggnanandhaa is only the second Indian after the legendary Viswanathan Anand to reach the World Cup final.
"Wow, did not expect this opening! Is Magnus repeating his game 12 strategy of 2016 and aiming for a tiebreak?" Anand said on X.
"If so, Magnus has spent the day thinking of the tiebreak whilst Prag can only start to do so after the game."
Praggnanandhaa was surprised that Carlsen opted for a quick draw with white pieces.
"I didn't really think that he would go for a quick draw today, but I realised when he went for this line that he wants to make a draw; I was also fine with that. I also feel exhausted, as I said in the previous interviews. Now I can just give everything tomorrow and relax after that," Praggnanandhaa told FIDE.
Carlsen said he is yet to recover from the bout of food poisoning, which has been hampering him for the last few days.
"I am very grateful to the organisers, FIDE and the doctors and nurses, who got me some good treatment. Today, I am feeling a bit better but I still didn't feel like I had the energy for a full fight, so I thought, let's get one more day of rest. Hopefully, I will have more strength tomorrow," the World No 1 said.
