After being slightly better and looking to be comfortably drawing the first tiebreak game, it turned  into nothing short of a pure heartbreaker for the rapidly rising teenager, as he lost the thread of the game during a crucial stage of a tense endgame struggle - and one where, taking no chances whatsoever, and with the trade of each piece, effortlessly rewarded Carlsen with the sort of position he’s become famous for grinding out trademark wins.

And with his latest victory, speculation now increasing mounts that Carlsen’s illustrious career, reigning unmatched as the world #1 for the best part of 12+ years now, could inexorably be heading towards his last dance, having won every major tournament and title there’s is in the game, whether that be online or over-the-board, classical or speed events.

For the record, the tally from the Norwegian journalist and unofficial keeper of all stats Magnus, Tarjei J. Svensen posted on X, formerly Twitter: 1 World Cup, 5 World Championship titles, 4 World Rapid titles, 6 World Blitz titles, 1 Candidates title, 8 Tata Steel titles, 5 Norway Chess titles, 4 London Classic titles, 4 Shamkir titles, and 4 Sinquefield Cups, to name but a few of his top honours.

In the third-place playoffs, America’s Fabiano Caruana managed to come back from the dead to convincingly beat the unlikely local Baku hero Nijat Abasov in both rapid tiebreaks for a 3-1 victory to take third place.

And with Carlsen already heavily hinting that he wouldn't be taking up his automatic Candidates slot, all three finalists - Pragg, Caruana and Abasov - have now qualified for the 2024 Candidates tournament, which is due to take place next April in Canada.

The final FIDE World Cup brackets/pairing tree and full scores can be found by clicking the link.

GM R Praggnanandhaa - GM Magnus Carlsen

FIDE World Cup Final, Playoff (1)


C50: Giuoco Pianissimo

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 The Giuoco Pianissmo - or more commonly known as the Giuoco Piano - is one of the oldest recorded openings in chess, played in the 16th century, and means 'quiet game' in Italian. And like its name, it is initially very quiet with a slow build-up as both sides position their pieces for the middlegame battle. 3...Nf6 4.d3

Living up to the "quiet game" reputation - the critical line in the Two Knight's Defence is 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Qf3, or, alternatively, the Nakamura pet-line of 8.Bd3 with Black having compensation for the pawn and a complex struggle ahead for both sides. 4...Bc5 5.a4 d6 6.O-O a5 7.Be3 We are more used to see this neutralising line with the colours reversed, and Black playing ...Be6. I suppose, in reality, Pragg just wants to try and keep things controlled and not give Carlsen too much to work with - and  his containing plan almost worked. 7...Bxe3 8.fxe3 O-O 9.Nbd2 Ne7 10.Nh4 c6 11.Qe1 d5 12.Bb3 Qd6 Indirectly covering the vital f6-square, as we'll soon see. 13.Qg3 Nh5 Black simply can't allow White's attack to build momentum. 14.Qg5 g6 15.Nf5 It looks a tad dangerous, but Carlsen has it all under control. 15...Bxf5 16.exf5 Kg7! Carlsen continues to cover the vital f6 square, denying Pragg from playing the awkward f6 himself. 17.Kh1 I don't think there's much to quibble about here, as Pragg tucks his king away from any potentially awkward ...Qc5+, should the game burst open - but perhaps marginally better was 17.Rae1!? as White can keep the tension for now and can answer 17...Qf6 with 18.Qg4 Nxf5 19.e4 Nh6 20.Qd7 Rfd8 21.Qc7 Qd6 22.Qxd6 Rxd6 23.exd5 cxd5 24.Rxe5 and White has the obvious edge with his rooks active and Black's knights on the rim. 17...Qf6! Carlsen doesn't hesitate to force the exchange of queens with immediate relief - and about this time, the Norwegian's body language seemed to be more confident. 18.Qxf6+

There's a subtle difference now preventing White from playing 18.Qg4?!, as in the above note, as Black has an added resource. After 18...Nxf5 19.e4 Ne3! 20.Rxf6 Nxg4 21.Rd6 Rfd8! 22.Rxd8 Rxd8 23.Re1 f6 and Black now is on top heading into the endgame. 18...Nxf6 19.fxg6 hxg6 20.e4 dxe4 21.dxe4 The best recapture, as 21.Nxe4 Nxe4 22.dxe4 Rad8 Black takes control - and another reason not to recapture with the knight, is that in certain lines, a Nc4 hitting e5 and a5 could be awkward for Black. 21...Rad8 22.Rf2 Rd4 This is one of those endgame "creep" positions most fear when facing Carlsen, as in general he rarely makes a mistake while finding all the awkward little moves that ups the ante in the grind stakes. 23.Raf1 Neg8 24.c3 Rd7 25.Re2 Re7 26.Bc2 Nd7 27.Nc4 I thought Pragg was doing OK here, and fully expected the game to halve out - but instead, the Indian teenager sadly seems to lose the thread of the game that allows Carlsen to ruthlessly sneak in to take control. 27...Ra8 28.g4 f6 29.Rg2 Nh6 30.g5 fxg5 31.Rxg5 Nf7 32.Rg2 Re6 33.Rd2 Rf6 34.Rxf6 Nxf6 35.b4?! Far too ambitious, and from here, regretfully Pragg's position just gets a little more difficult with each move. When faced with such equal positions against Carlsen, the rule of thumb is keep it equal and don't give him something he never had! For those good reasons, there was no shame in 35.Nb6!? Rh8 36.Nc4 Ra8 37.Nb6 Rh8 to take the draw now and extend the match. 35...axb4 36.cxb4 Kf8?! 37.Kg2?! This was Pragg’s last chance to bail out with 37.Nb6 Re8 38.Nd7+ Nxd7 39.Rxd7 Re7 40.Rd1 Kg7 and now 41.Kg2 with a likely draw on the cards. 37...Ke7 38.a5 Rh8 Without any real effort, over the last few moves, Carlsen has managed to improve all his pieces to somehow alchemise a win out of nothing. 39.Re2?! All these little miscues from Pragg are now beginning to accumulate. The way to proceed was with 39.Rd3 with the plan of Ra3 and a6 to start the process of liquidating the pawns. For example, now if 39...Nh5 (You can snatch the pawn on e4, but it makes no difference. After 39...Nxe4 40.Re3 Ned6 41.Nxe5 Nxe5 42.Rxe5+ Kf6 43.Rc5 and with a6 coming, the game is destined to arrive at Drawsville) 40.Ra3 Nf4+ 41.Kg1 Rb8 42.Kf2 Rh8 43.Kg1 and it is hard to see how either side makes progress here, considering that 43...Ne2+ 44.Kg2 Nd4 45.Bd1 Rh4 46.a6 bxa6 47.Rxa6 and Black can't play 47...Rxe4?? 48.Ra7+ Ke6 down to 49.Rxf7! and the Nd6+ fork. 39...Nh5 40.Kg1 Nf4! Carlsen is now in his element in this simple yet tricky position. Or, as one social media wag put it: “It’s easier [for India] to take an SUV-sized lander to the south pole of the moon than to survive and endgame squeeze by Magnus Carlsen”! 41.Rd2 Rh3 42.a6?

Not unsurprisingly, Pragg finally cracks under the pressure - he had to try and hold the line with 42.Bd1!? but easier said than done with his digital clock metaphorically ticking down now, and Carlsen confidently flicking out more and more "pressure-point" moves. You live and learn...well, you live anyway. 42...bxa6 43.Ba4 Rc3 Carlsen is somewhat spoilt for choice now in wins - but I was surprised he didn't opt for the immediate aesthetically attractive option of 43...Ng5! rendering White helpless with a double attack on e4 and the fork on f3. 44.Na5 Ng5! Oh well, better a little late than never, I suppose. 45.Rc2 Ngh3+ 46.Kf1 [see diagram] 46...Ra3! The back-rank mate decides the game and the destination of that the elusive final major title missing from Carlsen's already-laden trophy cabinet! 47.Nxc6+ Kf6 0-1 And Pragg resigns facing either a back-rank mate or the loss of the bishop.