Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa held his own against world No.1 Magnus Carlsen to secure a draw in the first classical game of the final of the Fide World Cup Chess here on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old from Chennai withstood pressure against a fancied and higher-rated opponent and forced a stalemate in 35 moves playing white pieces.

In the middle of a major time crunch, Praggnanandhaa was able to hold Carlsen for a draw in an objectively equal position with white pieces. The Indian played a solid game and agreed to a draw on move 35.

"I don't think I was in any trouble at all," Praggnanandhaa, oozing confidence, said after the game.

Carlsen, however, will have the advantage of playing white in the second game of the two-match classical series on Wednesday. One assumes that the Norwegian will go for the kill, in order to avoid taking the contest to a tie-break.

Reflecting on his game, Praggnanandhaa later said: "Rb8, I felt I should have done something there. But maybe this position is just solid and I don't have anything. What I played there was not the best try but I could not find anything."

About Wednesday's challenge, Praggu expects Carlsen to go all out in search of a straightforward victory. "It'll be a fight. He'll definitely push very hard. I'll try to rest and come fresh, I think that's the best I can do," said the Indian.

Carlsen, who has been under the weather due to food poisoning said that even though he had a break, he wasn't in the best physical shape.

"Normally, I would just probably have a bit of an advantage having a rest day while he had to play a tough tie-break yesterday (Monday), but I've been in a pretty rough shape the last couple of days.

"I got some food poisoning after the game against (Nijat) Abasov. I haven't been able to eat for the last two days. This also meant that I was really calm because I had no energy to be nervous," Carlsen said in jest.

Praggu is only the second player from India to reach the final of the World Cup after the legendary Viswanathan Anand and has also qualified for Candidates 2024.

In the battle for third place, Abasov stunned Fabiano Caruana with an opportunistic win in the first classical duel. The Azerbaijan grandmaster, who has punched above his weight by reaching the semi-finals, can book a confirmed berth in the Candidates meet with a win over Caruana.

With inputs from PTI