Stavanger (Norway) Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa lost to top seed Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the eighth round of the Norway chess tournament here, while his elder sister defeated overnight top seed Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.
With the win, Carlsen extended his lead to a full point over Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, who lost to Firouzja Alireza of France.
Meanwhile, world champion Ding Liren of China continued his disappointing performance as he lost to Fabiano Caruana of the United States.
With only two rounds left in the six-player double round-robin tournament, Carlsen has 14.5 points and is 13.5 points ahead of Nakamura. Praggnanandhaa is placed 12th and one point ahead of Alireza in third place.Caruana is in ninth place and moves up to fifth, while Liren is in last place with 4.5 points.
In the women's category, world champion Wenjun Xu of China led the field with 14.5 points over Sweden's Pia Krammling, benefiting from Muzychuk's defeat against Vaishali.
The Ukrainian finished second with 13 points, 1.5 points ahead of Vaishali and China's Tingji Lei, who defeated Koneru Humpy in the second game of the day.
Humpy finished fifth in the standings with eight points, 3.5 points more than Cramming in both categories in the tournament with a US$161,000 prize money.
As per tournament rules, all three games in the men's category ended in a draw until the Armageddon game in the Classical.Carlsen could not really dent Praggnanandha's solid play in the classical and with hard work the world number one won a pawn, but could only reach the theoretically prepared final game of rooks and pawns.
However, in the return game, Praggnanandhaa could not match Carlsen's finesse and lost a handful of pieces while reaching the endgame, in which the Indian had two short pieces against one rook. Ultimately White's additional material made the final decision.
In Armageddon, the white player has ten minutes compared to black's seven minutes but white needs to win the game.
Under classical time control players are awarded three points for each win while in Armageddon the winner gets 1.5 points compared to the loser.Despite losing to Firozha Alireza in a thrilling match, Nakamura remained within striking distance of Carlsen.
For Alireza, it was a good comeback and the Frenchman may now get his chances in the final two rounds.
Vaishali defeated Muzychuk for the second time at Armageddon. It was a well-played classical game in which no player could reach the lead, but in Armageddon, Vaishali took advantage of her superior position and made shots.
Both players had little time and Muzychuk faltered.Hampi's comeback aspirations suffered a setback as she lost to Tingzi Lei. Hampi, known for overcoming difficult circumstances, now needs two wins to finish well in the competition.
Men's Round 8 results: Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 14.5) beat R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 12) 1.5-1; Firozha Alireza (Fr, 11) beat Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 13.5) 1.5-1; Ding Liren (CHN, 4.5) lost 1-1.5 to Fabiano Caruana (USA, 9).
Women: R Vaishali (India, 11.5) beat Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 13) 1.5-1; Wenjun Xu (CHN, 14.5) defeated Pia Krammling (Sweden, 5.5); Tingjie Lei (Chn, 11.5) beat Koneru Humpy (Ind, 8).
With the win, Carlsen extended his lead to a full point over Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, who lost to Firouzja Alireza of France.
Meanwhile, world champion Ding Liren of China continued his disappointing performance as he lost to Fabiano Caruana of the United States.
With only two rounds left in the six-player double round-robin tournament, Carlsen has 14.5 points and is 13.5 points ahead of Nakamura. Praggnanandhaa is placed 12th and one point ahead of Alireza in third place.Caruana is in ninth place and moves up to fifth, while Liren is in last place with 4.5 points.
In the women's category, world champion Wenjun Xu of China led the field with 14.5 points over Sweden's Pia Krammling, benefiting from Muzychuk's defeat against Vaishali.
The Ukrainian finished second with 13 points, 1.5 points ahead of Vaishali and China's Tingji Lei, who defeated Koneru Humpy in the second game of the day.
Humpy finished fifth in the standings with eight points, 3.5 points more than Cramming in both categories in the tournament with a US$161,000 prize money.
As per tournament rules, all three games in the men's category ended in a draw until the Armageddon game in the Classical.Carlsen could not really dent Praggnanandha's solid play in the classical and with hard work the world number one won a pawn, but could only reach the theoretically prepared final game of rooks and pawns.
However, in the return game, Praggnanandhaa could not match Carlsen's finesse and lost a handful of pieces while reaching the endgame, in which the Indian had two short pieces against one rook. Ultimately White's additional material made the final decision.
In Armageddon, the white player has ten minutes compared to black's seven minutes but white needs to win the game.
Under classical time control players are awarded three points for each win while in Armageddon the winner gets 1.5 points compared to the loser.Despite losing to Firozha Alireza in a thrilling match, Nakamura remained within striking distance of Carlsen.
For Alireza, it was a good comeback and the Frenchman may now get his chances in the final two rounds.
Vaishali defeated Muzychuk for the second time at Armageddon. It was a well-played classical game in which no player could reach the lead, but in Armageddon, Vaishali took advantage of her superior position and made shots.
Both players had little time and Muzychuk faltered.Hampi's comeback aspirations suffered a setback as she lost to Tingzi Lei. Hampi, known for overcoming difficult circumstances, now needs two wins to finish well in the competition.
Men's Round 8 results: Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 14.5) beat R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 12) 1.5-1; Firozha Alireza (Fr, 11) beat Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 13.5) 1.5-1; Ding Liren (CHN, 4.5) lost 1-1.5 to Fabiano Caruana (USA, 9).
Women: R Vaishali (India, 11.5) beat Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 13) 1.5-1; Wenjun Xu (CHN, 14.5) defeated Pia Krammling (Sweden, 5.5); Tingjie Lei (Chn, 11.5) beat Koneru Humpy (Ind, 8).
