Stavanger (Norway): The brother-sister Indian duo of GM R Praggnanandhaaa and GM R Vaishali suffered defeats in their respective section while GM Magnus Carlsen justified his top billing with a win over an off-colour GM Ding Liren to surge to sole lead on 12 points in the Norway Chess tournament here.
GM Fabiano Caruana also scored over compatriot GM Hikaru Nakamura to help Carlsen emerge as the front runner for the crown in the six-player double round-robin contest being fought for a total prize pool of USD 161000.
Pragganandhaa lost to GM Firouzja Alireza of France in the Armageddon tiebreaker after suffering a bit through the Classical game too while Vaishali went down to world women's champion Wenjun Ju of China who outplayed the Indian in the endgame.
With four rounds still to come in both sections, Carlsen is now followed by Nakamura on 11 points while Praggnanandhaa is still third on 9.5 points in all. Alireza is on fourth spot with eight points in all and Caruana follows him with 6.5 points. Surprisingly, China's Ding Liren seems completely out of sorts with just 2.5 points thus far, needing a miracle to come back in the tournament.
Meanwhile, reigning World Champion Liren continued to struggle in the classical games, as he blundered a mate-in-two tactic against Carlsen in an equal position. This is Ding’s fourth loss in a row. With this win, Carlsen has surpassed Nakamura in the leaderboard, taking the top spot as the tournament enters its final week.
The game between Caruana and Nakamura ended in a draw relatively quickly, Caruana had a crucial win in the Armageddon game, a "revenge" for Nakamura's win in the first Armageddon game in the first half of the tournament. This win will possibly be a massive confidence booster for Caruana after two disappointing rounds.
Ju Wenjun topples Vaishali
In the Norway Chess Women's tournament, there have been exciting developments even though all games progressed into the endgame without either side making major mistakes.
Especially the game between Ju Wenjun and R Vaishali was highly anticipated as it could affect the leaderboard. While the game was quite balanced until the endgame, Wenjun secured a win against Vaishali when the latter went into time trouble. Both Wenjun and Muzychuk have an identical 10.5 points, a half point ahead of Vaishali. Lei is fourth on seven points, enjoying a two-point lead over GM Koneru Humpy who suffered another loss at the hands of Pia Cramling of Sweden in the Armageddon. Cramling has 4.5 points now and is still at the bottom of the tables.
Another important match-up, between Anna Muzychuk and Lei Tingjie, which could affect the leaderboard, ended in a draw. However, Anna Muzychuk won the Armageddon game and has thus overtaken Vaishali in the leaderboard by half a point. Muzychuk is now leading the tournament for the first time in the event. Humpy went down in the Armageddon tie-breaker against Cramling in what was a battle of veterans in the Norway Chess Women's tournament.
Round 7 Pairings
Norway Chess Main Event
Hikaru Nakamura vs Magnus Carlsen; Fabiano Caruana vs Alireza Firouzja; Praggnanandhaa R vs Ding Liren
Norway Chess Women's Tournament
Koneru Humpy vs Vaishali R; Pia Cramling vs Lei Tingjie; Anna Muzychuk vs Ju Wenjun
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