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Continuing his dream run at the FIDE World Cup, Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa on Monday stunned world No 3 Fabiano Caruana 3.5-2.5 via the tie-break to set up a final against world No 1 Magnus Carlsen. In the process, Praggnanandhaa becomes the third youngest player after the legendary Bobby Fischer and Carlsen to qualify for the Candidates tournament. After the semifinal of two-game classical series ended 1-1, the 18-year-old Indian prodigy outlasted the American GM in a nerve-wracking tie-breaker. In the final beginning on Tuesday, Praggnanandhaa will take on five-times title winner Carlsen, who beat Azerbaijan's Nijat Abasov 1.5-0.5 in his semifinal. By becoming only the second Indian after Anand to reach the semifinals of the World Cup, Pragg booked a spot in the Candidates event in 2024 to determine the challenger to Ding Liren. The top three finishers in the tournament qualify for the Candidates event in 2024 to determine the challenger to current world champion Liren of China. "I didn't expect to play Magnus in this tournament at all because the only way I could play him was in the final, and I didn't expect to be in the final. I will just try to give my best and see how it goes," he said after the win. "It feels really good to qualify for the Candidates; I really wanted to fix this spot." With the two 25'+10" games ending at 1-all, Praggnanandhaa prevailed in the first 10'+10" game against Caruana to get within a draw of setting up a final clash with world No.1 Carlsen. In the first game of tie-break, the Indian GM withstood a lot of pressure from Caruana and held on for a draw in an exciting encounter. The second rapid game too saw a similar result, pushing the semifinals to the 10'+10' series. Praggnanandhaa has been in a rich vein of form in the World Cup. Before Caruana, he got the better of another American Hikaru Nakamura, the world No 2 and second-seed, following which he stopped compatriot Arjun Erigaisi.
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