Norway Chess: Nakamura wins against Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa beats world champion Liren

Hikaru Nakamura won a close Armageddon game against World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the seventh round of the Norway Chess tournament. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Hikaru Nakamura won a close Armageddon game against World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the seventh round of the Norway Chess tournament at Stavanger on Monday. The local superstar, in fact, lost on time to the American, but maintained his sole lead still.

The Armageddon followed a 20-move draw between the two familiar rivals. Carlsen was on 13 points, half-a-point ahead of Nakamura.

R. Praggnanandhaa was placed third with 11 points. The Chennai teenager added to the miseries of the woefully out-of-form World champion Ding Liren of China, winning in Armageddon.

Also read | Norway Chess: R. Praggnanandhaa stuns world number two, achieves unique feat in classical chess

The day’s other game in the open section also went to Armageddon, with Alireza Firouzja of France prevailing over Fabiano Caruana of the United States. Firouzja had 9.5 points, followed by Caruana (7.5) and Ding (3.5).

In the women’s section, Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk shocked World champion Ju Wenjun of China in Armageddon and moved to the sole lead position. She had 12 points, half-a-point more than Ju.

Though R. Vaishali lost to fellow-Indian Koneru Humpy in the classical game, she maintained her third place with 10 points. Humpy and Lei Tingjie of China had eight points each, while Pia Cramling of Sweden was on 5.5.

The results:

Open: Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 12.5 bt Magnus Carlsen (Swe) 13; Fabiano Caruana (USA) 7.5 lost to Alireza Firouzja (Fra) 9.5; R. Praggnanandhaa 11 bt Ding Liren (Chn) 3.5.

Women: Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) 12 bt Ju Wenjun (Chn) 11.5; Koneru Humpy 8 bt R. Vaishali 10; Pia Cramling (Swe) 5.5 lost to Lei Tingjie (Chn) 8.5.