Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa will take on Fabiano Caruana of the United States in the ninth and penultimate round of Norway chess tournament now underway in Stavanger. (More Chess News)
It's been an event of ups anꦫd downs for the Indian super-talent as he won two games under Classical and two matches under Armageddon to reach the third spot with just two rounds to com🅺e.
The highlight has been his two victories in Classical over world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway and No. 2 Caruana earlier in the tournament and the downside has been three lo🍒sses u🥂nder Armageddon.
Carlsen, on 14.5 points, leads the fray with three victories in the Classical and he is followed by Aಞmerican Hikaru Nakamura who is a full point behind. Praggnanandhaa, on 12 points, is third in the standings ahead of Firouzja Alireza of France who has 11 points. Caruana, on nine points, is the next in standings ahea꧟d of World champion Ding Liren of China, who seems poised to finish last.
While it looks like a direct contest between Carlsen a🃏nd Naka🎐mura for the top spot, Praggnanandhaa would like to hold on to his new status of world No. 10 that he achieved with some handy rating gains thus far.
In the final round, post his game against Caruana, Praggnanandhaa is set t🍎o meet Nakamura and two draws will likeꦡly attest his place in the top-10 world rankings.
Carlsen has to meet Alireza ꦺin the next round followed by Caruana in the finale, and the only person who can overtake him is Nakamura who still has a terribly off-form Ding Liren of China in the next round as white.
In the women's section. Wenjun Ju is ahead on 14.5 points and has a 1.5 points lead over Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine. R Vaishali and Tingjie Lei of China share the third spot on 11.5 points apiece. Koneru Humpy is a distant fifth on 8.5, having a 2.5 points l🥂ead over last placed Pia Cramling of Sweden.
In the penultimate roun🍸d, Vaishali will take on Le𓆏i as black, while Humpy has the white pieces against Ju. Muzychuk meets veteran Cramling who has done decently being 61 years.
Things a༒re unlikely to change much in this section unless Humpy can find her magical touch and beat Wenjun in the $1,61,000 prize-money event.
Pairings (Round 9): Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 9) vs R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 12); Firouzja Alireza (Fra,♒ 11) vs Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 14.5); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 13.4) vs Ding Liren (Chn, 4.5).
Women: Tingjie Lei (Chn, 11.5) vs R Vaishali (Ind, 11.5); Koneru Hum🍸py (Ind, 8) vs Wenjun Ju (Chn, 14.5); P🔜ia Cramling (Swe, 5.5) vs Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 13).
