Stavanger (Norway), the Indian brother-sister pair of R Praggnanandhaa and R Vaishali suffered defeats in their respective categories, while Magnus Carlsen justified his top billing with a win over off-colour Ding Liren and moved to 12. Took sole lead with points. Norway Chess Tournament here.
Fabiano Caruana also scored over compatriot Hikaru Nakamura, leaving Carlsen as the front runner for the crown in the six-player double round-robin competition being contested for a total prize pool of US$161,000.
After facing some trouble in the classical game too, Praggnanandha lost to France's Firozha Alireza in the Armageddon tiebreaker, while Vaishali lost to world women's champion Wenjun Xu of China, who defeated the Indian in the final game.
With four rounds still left in both categories, Nakamura is now second behind Carlsen with 11 points, while Praggnanandhaa is still third with 9.5 points.Alireza is fourth with a total of eight points and Caruana follows him with 6.5 points. Surprisingly, China's Ding Liren is looking a complete disaster with just 2.5 points so far and needs a miracle to get back into the tournament.
In the women's category, Wenjun along with Ukraine's Anna Muzychuk snatched the lead from Vaishali, who won in a tough armageddon against China's Tingjie Lei. Wenjun and Muzychuk both have the same 10.5 points, half a point ahead of Vaishali.
Lei is fourth with seven points, two points clear of Koneru Humpy, who suffered another defeat at the hands of Sweden's Pia Krammling in the Armageddon.Cramling currently has 4.5 points and is still at the bottom of the table.
Holding a small advantage early on, world number one Carlsen took advantage of his double bishops to launch a kingside attack and capitalized on another mistake by Ding Liren with a childlike queen sacrifice. signed off.
Liren looks a long way from the man who won the last World Championship title against Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi and he really needs to prepare himself to face India's D Gukesh in the next edition of the tournament.
Currently, according to the apex governing body, FIDE, bids are coming in from Delhi, Chennai and Singapore to organize the World Championship matches.
Praggnanandhaa suffered a setback in his quest as Alireza played a good classical game to apply pressure and eventually draw the match.However, the Indian player faltered in the return game and could not really make a comeback.
In the women's section, Vaishali had chances but Wenjun Xu was at her technical best and grabbed the chances that came her way. There were some chances in the endgame of small pieces but Vaishali could not maintain the pressure.
Result Men: Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 12) beat Ding Liren (CHN, 2.5) 3-0; Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 11) lost 1-1.5 to Fabiano Caruana (USA, 6.5); Firozha Alireza (Fr,8) beat R Praggnanandha (10) 1.5-1.
Women: R Vaishali (India, 10) lost 0-3 to Wenjun Xu (CHN, 10.5); K Hampi (India, 5) lost to Pia Crammling (Sweden, 4.5) 1-1.5; Anna Muzychuk (10.5) beat Tingqi Lei (CHN, 7) 1.5-1.or ah
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Fabiano Caruana also scored over compatriot Hikaru Nakamura, leaving Carlsen as the front runner for the crown in the six-player double round-robin competition being contested for a total prize pool of US$161,000.
After facing some trouble in the classical game too, Praggnanandha lost to France's Firozha Alireza in the Armageddon tiebreaker, while Vaishali lost to world women's champion Wenjun Xu of China, who defeated the Indian in the final game.
With four rounds still left in both categories, Nakamura is now second behind Carlsen with 11 points, while Praggnanandhaa is still third with 9.5 points.Alireza is fourth with a total of eight points and Caruana follows him with 6.5 points. Surprisingly, China's Ding Liren is looking a complete disaster with just 2.5 points so far and needs a miracle to get back into the tournament.
In the women's category, Wenjun along with Ukraine's Anna Muzychuk snatched the lead from Vaishali, who won in a tough armageddon against China's Tingjie Lei. Wenjun and Muzychuk both have the same 10.5 points, half a point ahead of Vaishali.
Lei is fourth with seven points, two points clear of Koneru Humpy, who suffered another defeat at the hands of Sweden's Pia Krammling in the Armageddon.Cramling currently has 4.5 points and is still at the bottom of the table.
Holding a small advantage early on, world number one Carlsen took advantage of his double bishops to launch a kingside attack and capitalized on another mistake by Ding Liren with a childlike queen sacrifice. signed off.
Liren looks a long way from the man who won the last World Championship title against Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi and he really needs to prepare himself to face India's D Gukesh in the next edition of the tournament.
Currently, according to the apex governing body, FIDE, bids are coming in from Delhi, Chennai and Singapore to organize the World Championship matches.
Praggnanandhaa suffered a setback in his quest as Alireza played a good classical game to apply pressure and eventually draw the match.However, the Indian player faltered in the return game and could not really make a comeback.
In the women's section, Vaishali had chances but Wenjun Xu was at her technical best and grabbed the chances that came her way. There were some chances in the endgame of small pieces but Vaishali could not maintain the pressure.
Result Men: Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 12) beat Ding Liren (CHN, 2.5) 3-0; Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 11) lost 1-1.5 to Fabiano Caruana (USA, 6.5); Firozha Alireza (Fr,8) beat R Praggnanandha (10) 1.5-1.
Women: R Vaishali (India, 10) lost 0-3 to Wenjun Xu (CHN, 10.5); K Hampi (India, 5) lost to Pia Crammling (Sweden, 4.5) 1-1.5; Anna Muzychuk (10.5) beat Tingqi Lei (CHN, 7) 1.5-1.or ah
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