Norway Chess: Praggnanandhaa Slips from Top After Loss to Hikaru Nakamura, Vaishali Still Leads

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa lost to World No 3 Hikaru Nakamura to slip down from the lead after round four at the 2024 Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger on Friday.

“This (visiting the confessional booth) is becoming too much of a regular occurance, because my opponents are thinking too long in every game. Even though I like my position I am honestly just bored out of my mind, which is probably why I’m back here again,” Hikaru Nakamura said in the confessional booth, before adding that he would “rather be streaming right now rather than playing this game or trading stocks.”

“It has gone a bit badly for me today,” Praggnanandhaa said.

Nakamura capitalised on some unforced errors from Praggnanandhaa. The Nimzo Indian defense by the Indian resulted in a dynamic balance but Praggnanandhaa got too optimistic in the resulting middle game and sacrificed a knight.

The compensation, however, was not enough and Nakamura converted his extra material into a full point after 86 moves.

In the men’s section, world number one Magnus Carlsen grinded down arch-rival Fabiano Caruana of United States on a day that witnessed all decisive games under classical time control.

Carlsen defeated Caruana out of a Queen and pawns endgame. Outplaying his opponent from a balanced position has long been a hallmark of Carlsen and this day was no different as he won thanks to a blunder by Caruana in the final part of the game.

In the other game of the day, Firouzja Alireza of France put it across reigning world champion Ding Liren of China.

The USD 1,61,000 prize money tournament has many more critical games to come but at the end of fourth round Nakamura has nosed ahead on seven points, enjoying a half point lead over Alireza.

Carlsen is third with six points to his credit while Praggnanandhaa slipped to fourth position on 5.5 points. Caruana is a close fifth at this stage with five points while Liren is a distant last on just 2.5 points thus far.

R Vaishali Continues Dream Run

In the women’s section, Vaishali defeated Pia Cramling of Sweden to maintain her lead at the top. Vaishali stretched her lead to 2.5 points following her second win under classical time control.

Vaishali won thanks to her perseverance out of a drawn rook and pawns endgame.

Playing the black side of a Grunfeld defense, the Chennai-based GM had little trouble equalising and the players arrived at a heavy piece endgame in almost no time.

Cramling had to solve her pawn structure problem a bit and this is where Vaishali thought she had a chance.

The game was still within the boundaries of a draw when Cramling blundered and found herself staring at a lost rook and pawns endgame. The game lasted 54 moves.

The Indian now has 8.5 points in her kitty and is followed by women’s world champion Wenjun Ju of China and Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.

Muzychuk defeated Koneru Humpy for her first win in the tournament while Wenjun got through her compatriot Tingjie Lei in the Armageddon.

Humpy lost to Muzychuk in what was a similar story. The rook and pawns endgame should have been a draw but a blunder by Humpy towards the end sealed the fate of the game in Muzychuk’s favour.

This was Muzychuk’s first victory in Classical chess in almost seven months.

With six rounds still remaining in the six-player double round-robin tournament, Lei stands fourth on five points, two points clear of Humpy and Cramling.

ALSO READ | R Praggnanandhaa After First-ever Classical Win Over Magnus Carlsen: ‘He Wants to Fight… I Didn’t Mind at All’

Earlier, Praggnanandhaa had defeated world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen for the first time in a classical game. The 18-year-old Indian Grandmaster beat Carlsen on his home turf on white pieces, emerging as the sole leader with 5.5 points. Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa had drawn their previous three encounters in this format, two of which in the 2023 World Cup final. On Wednesday night, the 18-year-old Indian grandmaster punished Carlsen’s risky play. Carlsen never castled and eventually lost as his king couldn’t find a safe haven.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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