Chess World Stunned: Nine-Year-Old Indian Prodigy Holds Magnus Carlsen to Draw

In an astounding display of skill, nine-year-old Indian chess player Aarit Kapil achieved a draw against the world's top-ranked player, Magnus Carlsen, in the 'Early Titled Tuesday' online chess tournament.

Magnus Carlsen ponders his strategy during a chess match.

Kapil, recently the runner-up in the Under-9 National Championship, put immense pressure on the five-time world champion. He even managed to secure a winning position against Carlsen.

However, the young Indian player faced challenges due to time constraints, which ultimately led to a draw in a rook versus two minor pieces endgame.

The talented player from Delhi participated in the online event while in Georgia, where he is currently competing in the under-10 World Championship. He has started strong with two wins in his first two rounds and is set to continue his journey with his third game on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, fellow Indian player V Pranav emerged as the winner of the 'Early Titled Tuesday' tournament, scoring an impressive 10 points out of 11 rounds. American Grandmaster Hans Moke Niemann and Carlsen both tied for second place with 9.5 points each, with Niemann securing the runner-up position due to tiebreaks.

In other news, Magnus Carlsen recently made history by achieving a remarkable 2900 rating in freestyle chess, a feat unprecedented in any format of the game.

Carlsen, who has maintained his position as the world's number one player for nearly 15 years, previously reached his peak classical chess rating of 2882 in May 2014.

The freestyle chess ratings are now overseen by the Freestyle Chess organization, independently from FIDE, the global governing body for chess.

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

The freestyle ratings calculation incorporated data from five tournaments: Weissenhaus 2024, Singapore 2024, Weissenhaus 2025, Paris 2025, and Karlsruhe 2025. This encompassed 578 players who participated in at least one event over the course of two years.

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