Norway Chess: R Vaishali wins all-Indian battle, Praggnanandhaa falls to world champ

Stavanger (Norway), May 29

India’s R Vaishali came up with a stupendous effort to beat compatriot Koneru Humpy and jump into the lead in the women’s section of the Norway Chess here.

With each victory under the classical time control worth three points, Vaishali got an early advantage moving to four points after the second round and her first-round loss against Wenjun Ju of China under faster time control does not matter so much right now.

India’s third and latest Grandmaster among women, Vaishali is at the helm followed by the Chinese duo of Tingjie Lei and Ju. Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine and Pia Cramling of Sweden share the fourth spot in the six-player double round-robin event, while Humpy currently is languishing at the bottom on 1.5 points. In the men’s section, world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen emerged as the sole leader on another day that had only Armageddon to decide the winners.

The tournament features a distinctive format where drawn classical games lead to Armageddon tiebreakers to ensure a winner after every round. While 10 minutes are provided to white, black gets 7 minutes to determine the winner of the contest. Black pieces win if the game ends in a draw.

Carlsen proved superior to Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in the Armageddon. It is no secret anymore that the world’s best player and the five-time world champion does not enjoy classical chess as much as before.

Carlsen drew the classical game for the second day running and then romped home in the faster time control over Nakamura.

The lone Indian aspirant Praggnanandhaa had a tough day as he lost to reigning world champion Ding Liren of China in the tiebreaker. After drawing the first game confidently, Praggnanandhaa could not resist the perseverance of Liren.

Having Carlsen in front on three points, Praggnanandhaa is close behind on 2.5 alongside Firouzja Alireza of France, Nakamura and Liren. Fabiano Caruana is currently at the bottom with two points.

India bids to host Gukesh-Liren World Championship match

New Delhi: India has submitted its bid to host the much-anticipated World Chess Championship clash between teen sensation D Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren of China in November-December this year. The bid has been submitted by the Tamil Nadu government. “We have received the bid from India,” the CEO of chess’ global governing body FIDE, Emil Sutovsky, said. As of now, FIDE hasn’t received any other bids but the deadline to enter the race is May 31. PTI