Norway Chess: Vaishali wins again, Pragg goes down

Stavanger: Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali continued her dream run to defeat veteran GM Pia Cramling, while her brother R Praggnanandhaa went down fighting against Hikaru Nakamura in Norway Chess. Vaishali stretched her lead to 2.5 points following her second win under classical time control. In the men’s section, world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen beat Fabiano Caruana on a day that witnessed all decisive games under classical time control. Nakamura has nosed ahead on seven points.

Singapore
Treesa-Gayatri enter semis after another upset win

Rising Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand beat the sixth-seeded South Korean duo of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong 18-21 21-19 24-22 to enter the semifinals of the Singapore Open.

Paris
Balaji gets first French Open win, Yuki bows out

N Sriram Balaji made a strong case for his inclusion in the Indian men’s doubles team for the Paris Olympics along with Rohan Bopanna by logging his maiden win at the French Open but Yuki Bhambri, the other contender for the berth, made a first-round exit. Balaji and Mexicao’s Miguel Martinez beat Reese Stalder and Sem Verbeek 6-3 6-4. Agencies