IIT Delhi vs Pragg Insane Handicap Match 1 min vs 5 minutes IITDelhiOfficial imctrading6385

How strong is a Super GM like Prague? This is a question on the minds of many chess fans. But we often cannot gauge their strength because they play against opponents who are also Super GMs. But what if Prague decided that today is not a day to play against Super GMs, but to play against opponents like you and me? Well, thanks to IMC and IIT Delhi, this became a reality. On 24th of April 2026, Prague visited the IIT Delhi campus and challenged their entire chess team to a match. 7 games, 7 opponents and high pressure stuff as Prague decided to raise the stakes by taking just 1 minute against 5 for his opponents. Each and every opponent was a FIDE rated player with the last one being 2500 rated on chess.com. How did Prague fare? Let's find out. Prague, how are you feeling? Yeah, the real low is also hidden, so I don't know how strong they are. Sumit, what's your ELO? I am FIDE 1580. 1580? Probably 1 minute was not a good thing. You risked it, Prague. Let's go. Okay, we can begin. He has also played against Nihal in under 11 nationals. He has also... Oh, you played with Nihal? Yeah, I remember wrong. So Sumit has played already against Nihal Sarin when he was 11 years old. So now he gets to play Prague. Let's see. So it's the E4-E5 opening and Prague is playing the scotch. And one thing that you can notice is that Prague's time is already down to 55 seconds. So, you know, there's not much time that Prague has here. But Sumit has like 4 minutes 40 seconds. So he can play a little bit relaxed. I can also take a walk and come back. Sumit, are you feeling nervous? Really nervous. Yeah, really nervous. Okay, that's natural. You can also see like your teammates rooting for you, hoping that you can... Prague, you seem to have played an opening that he has not prepared. Yeah, that's why I played scotch. So your strategy is different for such games, yeah? You don't use the main openings. I have played scotch. You have played scotch, yeah. Sumit is now down to 3 minutes 40 seconds. Brings his bishop out. Prague is almost ready with his answer. Knight goes back. Sumit, you are actually playing well. Come on, confidence. In such games, it often happens that the player who has 5 minutes comes down to 0 before the player who has 1 minute. Because he thinks a lot. So I think, Sumit, you have to be careful about your time. You are down to now 2 minutes 59 seconds. And Prague has 51 seconds. You can see like how Prague is ready with his answer for every move. Prague, you didn't sacrifice, yeah, your bishop? Yeah, I had no pieces to attack. And now Prague has actually castled his king on the other side. So Sumit's king is on one side. Prague's king is on the other side. So there can be a huge attack. And now Sumit has 2 minutes 16 seconds. Prague has 43 seconds. So actually, Prague is making 1 minute look like an eternity. You know, he has 43 seconds. And if you think about it, he's made close to 15 moves in 17 seconds. And now... He's playing better when he's playing fast. So Sumit, the trick is not to think. If you think, then you are making bad moves. 32 seconds for Prague, 1 minute 40 seconds for Sumit. Getting intense. Sorry? Very tense, yeah? Knight comes in the center and Prague... Have you trapped the queen? Not. Barely. Almost. I could have, I missed the chance actually. So now Prague has won 1 pawn. But actually the game is quite interesting now. Prague has only 23 seconds. Sumit has 1 minute. And Sumit is only 1 pawn down. So already the first game very exciting. Bishop goes back. Prague is coming at Sumit's king now. And he has 19 seconds. Sumit has 47. Sumit, if you can make 20 more moves, you will win on time. 30 seconds for Sumit, 17 seconds for Prague. Takes... And now 20 seconds for Sumit. You need to move fast, Sumit. Come on. Oh, he moves, touches the queen. It was... If he had moved it there, it was checkmate in one move. So he brought it back. And Prague is now winning. And also Sumit has very little time. Oh! Queen sacrifice. And Sumit down to 3, 2 and... Okay, you lose on time and also checkmate. How did he play? How did Sumit play? No, I am worried about rest 4 games. No, usually they don't send the strongest guy at first. It's only going to get perhaps stronger, yeah? I think at some point you... I mean, I had this rook d4 thing to grab the queen instead of f3. I played f3 quickly, yeah? Queen e8 and then 96, getting the pieces out. Well played, Sumit. Well done. Guys, round of applause for Sumit. Next up... You can... We can ask him. So next up, we have Rohan now. Rohan wants white pieces. So Prague... Prague is like, he's going to take 1 minute versus 5. Same time control. But Rohan is stronger than Sumit. No? Around equal? 1640. Yeah, so Rohan was around 1500. Now you are 1640. Rohan, what did you take away from Sumit's game? Probably play on the time. Play faster. Okay. Prague, so he's learned something. Let's begin the second game. It's 1-0 in Prague's favor right now. Sumit has white, so he has opened with d4. And there's a very famous opening in chess called the King's Indian Defense. So we have the King's Indian Defense on the board. And Prague is playing this opening which has been a favorite of players like Kasparov, Bobby Fischer. And he wins the bishop. Sumit has 4 minutes 40 seconds. Prague has 48 seconds. So you can see that Sumit has come with a strategy to play fast. That's his main strategy. Prague, are you liking your position? I like my position. I'm sorry, Rohan. Sorry, I'm still stuck in the first game. That's Rohan here, not Sumit. You like your position, Prague? Yeah, I like my position, but not his strategy. His strategy of playing fast is quite good. Yeah, shouldn't have said it actually. Rohan, how do you like your position? I like the position, but not the opening. Rohan says, I like the position, but not the opponent. What is really nice to see is that in both the games, they are fighting. They have not given Prague any easy chances, no blunders. Rohan is trying to get his pieces to the forefront. And now, gets a pawn. Prague captures the pawn back and Prague takes another pawn. We are now into an endgame where Prague is a pawn up. But Prague has only 30 seconds. Sumit has three minutes. Wow. Can Sumit actually beat Prague here on time? I think, sir, you can't see that. So Prague has won another pawn with 22 seconds. Prague is winning now. Sumit is shaking right now. He doesn't know. Oh, it's a checkmate. Rohan, it's a checkmate. So Rohan played really well till a point. I think, Prague, how was the game? Yeah, I think it was a good fight. At some point, it was not clear because I started getting low on time and the position was not opening up. So I started getting a little worried. Yeah, once I got the two pawns. And Rohan, what about you? Did you like playing? I was liking the position, the middle position. You got his pawn. He got your pawn. It was an endgame. Very interesting. But then... Yeah, I think you played too fast. So at some point, you were too fast. Okay, so the score is 2-0 in the favor of Prague versus IIT Delhi. The next player is Shamil. Shamil is coming in. Shamil, a round of applause for Shamil. Yeah, Shamil, what's your strength? What's your strength? 1580, FIDE. Okay, so Shamil is 1580. So Prague, similar strength to Rohan. I don't know. Maybe you guys have a better idea. Is Shamil stronger than... No? Yeah, okay. Yes, they say. Oh, you were following him. That was not a good tournament to follow. Nihal Sir is from my same stage. Oh, nice. Okay, let's go. Shamil versus Prague, third game. Five minutes to Shamil. He opens with the English opening. Prague, is this your preparation that you are now using? This is what Magnus played against me. Oh, Magnus played against you in World Cup. Wow, with black? Yeah, I played a bit differently. Shamil looks like a positional player. Is that correct? Also looks like someone who can take his time. Yeah, Shamil, you are not using Rohan's strategy. Why not? I just want to play a good game, that's it. Yeah, keep talking. Shamil has 3 minutes 47 seconds. Prague has 51 seconds. Pawn to b3. Wow, brings his bishop out. I think Shamil has played the opening quite well, no, Prague? Yeah. The fact that Prague didn't give a very good answer means he's a little worried in the position. He's thinking. Takes 2 minutes 47 seconds for Shamil. 43 seconds for Prague. And the position is actually really nice for Shamil. At least that's what I understand. Would that be right, Prague? Yeah. Equal, yeah? But Shamil, you have to play fast. You are down to 2 minutes 20 seconds. Prague has 37 seconds. 2 minutes 7 seconds for Shamil now. There's a repetition. And Shamil is like, draw. Prague is like, no way. He's continuing. There is still a difference of a minute and 10 seconds. But Prague is playing super quick. 34 seconds left for Prague. Shamil down to 1 minute 20 seconds. He wanted to play a good game. He has done it already. But now you could come under a lot of time trouble. 58 seconds for Shamil. 34 seconds for Prague. Plays H4. Wow. Prague is so quick. He's ready with his move. You know, the thing is, Shamil can choose any move. But Prague is ready with his response, which is incredible. And now he's just coming in. Both players on 32 seconds. Shamil's time going down. 27, 26. And there's a fork here. Saves his queen. Check. Oh. Knight comes to D4 and wow. Prague has played very cool. And Prague wins a piece. Check. Takes another pawn and Shamil gets checkmated. Prague, how was the game? No. I think every game I'm getting more and more worried. No, you played really well. Opening it was fine, but after mid-game... Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you played well. I mean, till like queen, queen here. Queen C1 and die. It's completely fine for white. Even later on, it can't be worse for white. So it was around equal. And then I think Shamil started going a bit wrong, less on time. So great game. Well done. So the score is 3-0 in the favor of Prague. All that IIT Delhi has to do is score a half a point. You know, that's good enough for them. So the fourth player now, Raghav is joining in here. And Raghav has asked Prague for black pieces, which is very unique strategy. Because in chess, white means a small advantage. So Raghav, what's your thinking behind taking black? I just had move-ins in FIDE with black. Sorry? I had move-ins in FIDE with black. Better results than white. Ah, you had better results in black than in white. That is the only reason. Wow. How much is the other thing? Yeah, how strong are you? Yes. So after we had a couple of players who were around 1,600, we now have Raghav who is 1,770. But I think it could be a similar strength thing. Similar strength. You look a bit nervous. Are you nervous? I think everyone is agreeing. I think all these questions are waiting. No, it's fine. I'm actually just enjoying the moment. You want to enjoy the moment. Yeah, true. I mean, to get to play Prague is really amazing. Let's start. 3-0 is the score. And Prague, this time, opens with d4. And we have the semislav. Shouldn't have played the main line. This opening. Oh, and Prague pushes his kingside pawn. Shamil, what's your feeling here? I think Prague is just trying to scare you. I'm just trying to serve. Prague has pushed his pawn to h4 early in the opening and has long castled. So Prague, is this like something that you're going to do in the simul today as well in the evening where you're going to attack without a care? Yeah, we'll see. I think also the thing is, once a player starts getting into the flow, it's difficult to beat them. So I think Prague was a bit rusty in game one, but he's getting stronger every game. Raghav takes. Bishop takes. 3 minutes 40 seconds. For Raghav, 44 seconds for Prague. He takes the pawn. Prague is right now a pawn up, but there could be potentially some tactics. Raghav is trying to figure it out. He goes rook a7. Takes 36 seconds for Prague. You know, if generally an opponent can make two or three good moves, that can make Prague think for five seconds, you know, on each move. Can bring him really down. So Raghav has played pretty well. He's now just a pawn down. Prague, what do you feel, yeah, this position? Should win this. You should win this. Pawn to f3. Oh, wow. He gives up a pawn here, Raghav. He's opened up Prague's king. Can he checkmate Prague's king is the question. Prague, very tricky. Rook c7. 26 seconds for Prague. 1 minute 54 seconds for Raghav. Oh, he sacks an exchange. But is this a good move by Prague? Prague, is it a good move? Yeah, oh. I mean, it's insane, yeah. Prague sacrifices, finds a combination. He did not even take one second to think this. Did you calculate everything, Prague? Or you just saw it on the board, like. Difficult to say. He just saw it. He couldn't take because there was a checkmate. And so now Prague is a piece up. And he has 23 seconds to finish this off. Meanwhile, Raghav is down to 50 seconds. Oh, that was a rook blunder. Okay, queen falls and Raghav resigns here. Fourth win for Prague. It was good, I tried something. But you enjoyed? I enjoyed it. Nice. And Prague, how was the game? Yeah, I think I, I mean, this is the first game. I actually attacked there. So he was under a lot of pressure. You attacked, yeah, from right from the beginning. So it's four nil now. Four points for Prague. Nil for IIT Delhi. But, oh, we have fifth. Are there six players who are going to play? Oh, seven are going. Oh, Prague, it was not five. Seven, okay. What's your name? Jairam is here. Jairam, what's your strength? But online? Can you say? How much? So he just comes here and he says I was 25-15 in Lichess. 2500 is a very high rating. It's not, it's not easy. Prague, are you feeling like this time maybe a little less against 2500 Lichess? Yeah, yeah, I don't have too much hope. Prague says he doesn't have too many hopes. And also, I also like the way he says, no, nothing much, just 2500. Sorry, what's your full name? Jairam. Jairam is your name. Okay, so Jairam, 2500 takes the white pieces, has five minutes on the clock. Let's go. I'm actually excited to see what happens here. Okay, Prague has started off with something called as two nights tango. And you can already see the intent with which Prague is playing, because he knows that his opponent is like 2500. He cannot afford to waste time. Until now, it's a very standard game and a very decent position. But Prague, I think has made eight moves. And he has taken four seconds. So he's making two moves per second, which effectively means he can make 120 moves in a minute. Jairam is down to four minutes. Castles. I like how Jairam's playing this, you know, he's putting pressure on Prague. He's expanding on the queen side. And he's improving his knight. Wow. Okay, this guy is strong. Jairam, when you were young, did you play a lot of tournaments? You played in the same tournament as me? As Prague? Oh. So 11 years ago, Jairam and Prague played in the same tournament, but you didn't play Prague. No, you didn't play Prague. Okay. So Prague somehow has managed to win a pawn. Wow. Okay. Prague has a better position now. But it's still a fight. Still a fight. Brings his knight back. And this move actually costed Prague more than five seconds. So that's what Jairam has to do more and more. To put Prague under pressure. Takes. Jairam's speed is good. He has two minutes, 40 seconds. Prague has 32 seconds. But Prague is a pawn up. And Prague is going on the offensive. He's attacking. Jairam has to survive 30 seconds more. Like Prague has 28 seconds. This is a mate threat. Okay, I should not have said it, but I'm pretty sure Jairam saw it. Shep goes back. Check. Prague wins another pawn. Check. And brings his knight back. 26 seconds for Prague. 25. Jairam, one minute, 50 seconds. This is thrilling. Prague should win if he has time. But time is going to be a factor here. 24 seconds. Attacks the queen. Queen moves. And queen f6. 23 seconds for Prague. One minute, 30 seconds for Jairam. Oh, and Jairam creating tactics on the board. 21 seconds for Prague. Now. Trades. It's amazing that Prague hasn't blundered anything. You know, he's 19 seconds. Can he finish this game in 19 seconds? Two pawns up. Takes. There are trades now. Queen takes. Takes with the knight. Oh, and Prague brings his knight in. And a check. Oh, it comes from the other side. No one saw it coming actually. Prague trades queens. But now 12 seconds only. Will Jairam try to flag Prague? 40 seconds for Jairam. 11 seconds for Prague. Okay, this is not easy. Prague has to make a queen. Checkmate. 11 seconds. How many moves can Prague make? He pushes the pawn. Check. Oh my god. And resigns. Wow. Prague. That was incredible. The way you played. Yeah, here. Yeah, I was impressed with knight g5, knight e4. I didn't see it. Yeah, the knight movement was amazing. Jairam, did you feel like you could beat Prague? No. No? Which tournament did we... Under 9. 11, yeah probably. Must be 11. Because I was 10 already. I mean, I don't remember playing under 10. But I think you came first. Yeah, then it's under 11. I didn't even know. Under 11, you won with 11 out of 11, yeah? No, no, no, that was... No, 11 was difficult. Yeah, Nihal was there. Okay, great Jairam. Well played. The score is 5-0 in the favor of Prague. I thought there were five players. But actually, IIT Delhi has a strong team. There are seven. By the way, he is an IMC intern. Oh, we have an IMC intern. And the captain, Shon. Yes. Shon, everyone's hoping that you can kind of break Prague's streak. And do you want white pieces or black? I'll take white. White. And what's your strength like? Can you tell? PDM 1700 and 2300 on Chess.com. So he is 2300 on Chess.com. So that's almost like 2500 on Lichess perhaps. So it's going to be another tough round here for Prague. Okay, off we go. Prague playing something called as the Scandinavian Defense. Prague, why did you choose this opening? He's playing faster. So I don't think I can answer it. No, it's just something that... You wanted him not to be prepared. Yeah. But I think, Shon, you are prepared. 4 minutes 26 seconds for Shon. 54 seconds for Prague. A move that has made Prague now to think for a while. Oh, he takes on F3. Takes back. What? What kind of tactics are these? Black magic, yeah? Prague is creating some magic on the board. But what's happening? Is it good? Castles. So Prague is now a pawn up. But takes... He's down to 38 seconds. And Prague was like a little bit unhappy that he spent so much time here. Yeah, I kind of forgot that. You forgot that you had one minute? Yeah. Oh my god. He wants to trade the queens. And Shon trades it. But Prague is now a pawn up. He has to win this in 33 seconds. No time to waste. Prague even finds time to pick up the piece. 32 seconds to Prague. 3 minutes for Shon. Usually, when you are a pawn up, you have an advantage. But you need time to convert it. You need to make moves. You need to... So for Prague, it's like he has only 32 seconds. So maybe, maximally, he can make 40, 45 moves. If Shon can somehow resist. Then Prague could come under time trouble. I mean, he could go really low on time. Brings his rook in. Amazing speed shown by Prague here. 2 minutes for Shon. 30 seconds for Prague. Please, he's not thinking. Takes another pawn. Goes back. Now 1 minute, 25 seconds for Shon. 30 seconds for Prague still. 29 seconds. Not spending time. He brings his knight in. Making 1 move per 1 second is not so tough. But making good moves per 1 second is very tough. That's what Prague is doing here. He's making great moves. Takes. Rook takes. Knight takes. And he's traded pieces. Shon still has 49 seconds. He's ahead on clock. But he's still... He's 2 pawns down. Ah, he's 2 pawns down. And amazing how Prague sees the moves that his opponent is going to make. Wow. 13 seconds for Shon. 18 seconds for Prague. Prague is now ahead on the clock. And oh, checkmate! Wow. It's Shon there. I was knighted. But there was also queen. Queen takes bishop d7. Then? After knight f3, queen f3? Yeah. I went bishop d6. Oh, then queen bishop d7. Instead of warded there, I should have actually castled. Queen takes b4. Yeah, then I went queen h5. Even after queen h5, I went queen h5. And what if it had taken the bishop? Queen a1, yeah? Queen a1, queen a1. Knight c2, king e2. Knight e2, a1. Rook a1. Oh, there was a rook, yeah? Yeah. Rook on h1, no? Okay, that was a bad trick, but okay. Yeah, maybe I don't know if it works. Yeah, maybe I should... Yeah, it was bad then, yeah? Huh? Two pieces for rook. Maybe you thought bishop is on f1. Okay, it's fine. We have the final boss coming now. Okay, so the score is 6-0 in the favor of Prag. But now we have Soham here. Soham, let's have a big round of applause for Soham. Because Soham not only is super strong. What's your online rating, Soham? 2500 on chess.com. That's close to 2700 on Lichess. But more importantly, he's the only one in the room who has won a Magnus jersey. You can see here, he's written Magnus. Everyone else is with a Prag jersey. So the intent is real to beat Prag. Do you have anything to say, Soham, before the game? Nothing? You'll try your best. Prag? Prag, maybe a little bit of trash talking? No, right? No. Okay, let's begin. Final game. Oh, he's going for a tricky line here that maybe Prag might not have prepared. Prag, did you prepare this ever? No idea what this is. Soham, is this your preparation? Wow. Okay, that's crazy. He is prepared here. So guys, just so that for like when the tournament of all of you internally is held, does Soham always win? He doesn't play with you guys. He's like, I'm too strong. He's too strong. Okay. He's too strong. Okay, so that is already a thing here. Now, this is a real test for Prag. He's 50 seconds, 4 minutes, 20 seconds for Soham. And also the pressure is a lot on Soham, you know, the expectations. Everyone's like, come on Soham, you can do it. Brings his knight. He was not too happy with the move that he played. Perhaps Soham here, he's gone into a position which is kind of equal, but he may lose a pawn. And let's see how well he can resist here because Prag has 46 seconds. Plays his queen forward, offering a trade to Prag and Prag takes it. Okay, this is interesting now. This endgame is not so easy for Prag to win. I think Soham has good chances. He's trying to double on the d-file. Prag is a pawn up, but will it be enough for him to win this? Oh, Prag finds a tricky move. Soham touched the rook. 2 minutes, 40 seconds for Soham, 32 seconds for Prag. He takes the rook, takes everything straighted. They say rook endgames are very drawish. Is this a drawn rook endgame? Wow, okay. Soham's king is coming in. This is actually going to be very interesting. He has 2 minutes, Prag has 30 seconds. Prag's pieces look a little bit cramped. They don't have space. While Soham's king has gone for a walk. In fact, for a jog. It's right into the heart of Prag's position. Pushes his pawn. And Prag finds, he sacrifices a pawn and Soham was unhappy there. Oh my god, this is really exciting. Soham pushes his pawn, Prag brings his king up. Okay, black's position suddenly has a lot of activity. Soham almost pulling his hair out, yeah. Soham, come on. 1 minute, 13 seconds for Soham, 26 seconds for Prag. It's not a trivial endgame to convert. He attacks the pawn, Prag takes it, rook takes. 22 seconds for Prag now. Soham pushes his pawn, rook takes. And look at Prag's king doing all the hard work. Oh, and the king is going to the other side. Somehow Prag has managed to keep all the control. Not let Soham create counterplay. Pushes, Prag has 17 seconds, 20 seconds for Soham. And he resigns. Maybe not letting you push the pawn to c4, yeah. Yeah, I don't know, even after that it was tricky. Like king f5, you should probably go for this a pawn, yeah. Like king a6, then rook a8, rook a7, and start pushing. Yeah, I should play c3, but even rook c4, there's king b5 left. My king is already here, yeah. I played king f5, so these things are all hanging, I don't know. It's tricky, yeah, like you have to calculate all these positions. But also maybe instead of coming king to b5 and c6, king to e4 might have been better. You can stop my king like this. I don't know, it's difficult to say. This looks like it gives a lot of counterplay. Yeah, you should probably not go for this now. These are not important, yeah. This is like how top players analyze after the game. But Prag, 7-0. What do you have to say about the team from IIT Delhi? They are really strong. I think every game I somehow managed to find some mate or something, otherwise it was difficult. But you enjoyed, yeah? Yeah, it was a challenge. It was a challenge. Guys, a round of applause to Prag. Do you have a Prag jersey? Can you just give it? We'll have Prag, hand him over. Yeah. Now he has to change. Now no more Magnus. You have to change. Sorry? You can do it. You can take a photo. Get it from Prag. I thought the previous game, 9-4 was brilliant. I should work with SKG too. Oh, I thought maybe that's also okay for you, maybe. No, no. No, no? It's very bad. Probably I should go 9-2 directly. Then also, no. Yeah, then he has to take. This is not your Prag jersey. Nice. Soham, so you have to change. Will you change like in a few minutes now? Tonight, for tonight? Yes?