Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa resumed his giant-slaying streak in Norway Chess, defeating World Champion Ding Liren in an Armageddon tiebreaker in Round 7. The 18-year-old maintained his cool throughout the classical game and capitalized on an opening in the tiebreaker to put pressure on Chinese Grandmaster Liren, who had appeared off-color throughout the tournament in Stavanger.
Praggnanandhaa has been in excellent form at Norway Chess, a major double round-robin tournament. Last week, the young prodigy defeated World No.1 Magnus Carlsen in a Classical game for the first time, followed by a victory against No.2 Fabiano Caruana this weekend. R Praggnanandhaa made a great attempt to keep his cool after losing to Firouzja Alireza of France in the Armageddon tiebreaker on Monday.
With his victory over world champion Ding Liren, R Praggnanandhaa maintained his chances of winning the competition. He is now in third place in Norway Chess’ 6-man Open Section, with 11 points, 2.5 points behind leader Magnus Carlsen. American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura is in second place with 12.5 points. Praggnanandhaa’s calm demeanor and body language following these significant triumphs in Stavanger have won him a lot of supporters.
In another game, Nakamura kept the pressure on Carlsen, defeating the World No.1 in an Armageddon in Round 7. Praggnanandhaa has two outright wins and two Armageddon wins in Norway Chess. The Chennai sensation will next play Norwegian Grandmaster Carlsen in a highly anticipated rematch.
While Praggnanandhaa receives a significant boost after defeating Ding Liren, the world champion appears jaded in Norway. Liren appears to be a far cry from the player who won the last world championship crown over Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, and he will need to work hard to match India’s D Gukesh in the upcoming competition. According to FIDE, the apex governing organization, Delhi, Chennai, and Singapore have submitted bids to host the World Championship match.
Meanwhile, Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi’s outstanding performance at the French Team Chess Championship 2024 propelled him into the top five of the FIDE Live Rating standings, making him the highest-ranked Indian by live rating. Arjun, who has an ELO rating of 2769.7, has gained 8.7 points and is now just behind Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana of the United States, and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. He temporarily achieved a career-high live rating of 2771.2 earlier this week, becoming the only Indian to do so since Vishwanathan Anand.
