R. Praggnanandhaa stunned World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and snatched the sole lead from him in the third round of the Norway Chess tournament at Stavanger on Wednesday. Remarkably, the Chennai youngster’s win came against the Norwegian in the classical game, which meant he would pocket three points.
It was Praggnanandhaa’s first ever win in classical chess against the five-time World champion. He moved to 5.5 points, after romping home in 37 moves, from the white side of a Sicilian Defence.
Carlsen, whose king was uncastled, was forced to concede despite being a pawn up; there wasn’t much defence for him against White’s well-placed major pieces.
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Fabiano Caruana of the United States, who defeated World champion Ding Liren of China in the classical game, was in second place with five points. The other American, Hikaru Nakamura, was on four points, and Alireza Firouzja of France on 3.5. Carlsen had three points.
Praggnanandhaa’s elder sister maintained her sole lead in the women’ event, after beating Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk in the Armageddon game. She was on 5.5 points, one point ahead of Ju Wenjun of China.
Ju’s compatriot Lei Tingjie was on four points, after losing to Koneru Humpy. The Indian is one of three players on three points – Muzychuk and Sweden’s Pia Cramling are the others.
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