Chess World Stunned: Nine-Year-Old Indian Prodigy Draws Against Magnus Carlsen OR Carlsen Held to Draw by 9-Year-Old Indian Chess Star: Full Report OR Magnus Carlsen Faces Unexpected Challenge: Nine-Year-Old Secures Draw in Online Tournament

Magnus Carlsen (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

In a stunning turn of events, nine-year-old Indian chess player Aarit Kapil managed to secure a draw against world number one Magnus Carlsen in the 'Early Titled Tuesday' online chess tournament.

Kapil, who recently placed second in the Under-9 National Championship, put immense pressure on the five-time world champion during their game, even placing Carlsen in a potentially losing position.

However, the young Indian player faced challenges due to time constraints, which ultimately resulted in a draw during an endgame scenario featuring a rook against two minor pieces.

The talented player from Delhi participated in the competition while in Georgia, where he is currently participating in the under-10 World Championship. He has already won his first two rounds and will play his third game on Wednesday.

Indian player V Pranav emerged victorious in the 'Early Titled Tuesday' tournament, scoring an impressive 10 points out of 11. American Grandmaster Hans Moke Niemann and Carlsen both tied with 9.5 points, with Niemann claiming second place due to tiebreaks.

Recently, Magnus Carlsen achieved a remarkable feat by reaching a historic 2900 rating in freestyle chess, a milestone never before achieved in any format of the game.

Carlsen, who has consistently held the world number one position for approximately 15 years, previously achieved his peak classical chess rating of 2882 in May 2014.

The new freestyle chess ratings are managed by the Freestyle Chess organization, which operates independently from FIDE, the international chess governing body.

"My wife (Ella Victoria) is way more attracted to me now that I've achieved 2900," Carlsen jokingly mentioned to Freestyle Chess after learning about his rating.

The calculation of freestyle ratings encompassed five tournaments: Weissenhaus 2024, Singapore 2024, Weissenhaus 2025, Paris 2025, and Karlsruhe 2025, which included a total of 578 players who participated in at least one event over a period of two years.

Fellow Indian chess prodigy Praggnanandhaa currently holds the fourth position with 2773 points, trailing behind Carlsen (2909), Hikaru Nakamura (2818), and Fabiano Caruana (2804).