'Great icon for upcoming generation': Praggnanandhaa leaves everyone in awe after famous Carlsen win

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 22 : R. Praggnanandhaa's friends, principal hailed the school 'icon' for being an inspiration to them after the 16-year-old stunned world champion Magnus Carlsen.
Praggnanandhaa defeated world champion, Magnus Carlsen, on Monday in the eighth round of the ongoing Airthings Masters - an online rapid chess competition.
"First of all congrats to Master Praggnanandhaa, class 11th of Velammal school in Chennai Mugapair for beating world number one Magnus Carlsen," KS Ponmathi, Senior Principal of Velammal School where Pragayananda study told ANI.
"We proudly congratulate Praggnanandhaa on behalf of the school. We are giving full support for the all-round development of support including all the games. He is one of the students who has succeeded in each sports activity, especially in chess," he continued.
"He had got the various greetings from Prime Minister of India and President of India also. I thank the management for giving wonderful opportunities to Praggnanandhaa," the senior principal added.
Carlsen had racked up three wins in a row as he ominously cranked up the gears. But against the 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa, he blundered badly, and the Indian star held firm for the win.
It was Praggnanandhaa's first win in any form of chess against the Norwegian and came on the back of having lost three games in a row.
Zafar Riza, the school friend of Praggnanandhaa said: "We know him since childhood. We played, laughed and giggled together, but you will always find him with the chessboard."
"He is a very great icon for the upcoming generation, and my best, heartiest wishes to him."
"From three-four years, we had hardly seen him but before that, we were classmates actually. He is a very good man, kind-hearted, good personality ... unique person in the class," he added.
After that win against world number one, the 16-year-old R. Praggnanandhaa registered two more victories against Andrey Esipenko and Alexandra Kosteniuk in rounds 10 and 12 on Tuesday of the ongoing Airthings Masters. The Indian also drew against Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
The 16-year-old also lost to Russian Grand Master Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 11th round. After all these results, the Indian Grandmaster is in 12th place with 15 points.
The other school friend of Indian Grandmaster, Somnath said: "He has been a great inspiration to us. He is a great friend and knows how to tackle the different situations and he made our school proud."
Notably, the teenager is just the third Indian, after Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna, to accomplish the rare feat of beating Carlsen.