Stavanger (Norway) Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa lost his fight against Fabiano Caruana of the United States while world number one Magnus Carlsen suffered an Armageddon defeat to France's Firoz Alireza in the final round of the Norway chess tournament.
With 16 points in his bag, Carlsen extended his lead to 1.5 points over nearest rival Hikaru Nakamura, who was within a stroke of reigning world champion Ding Liren but never once lost his position.
Despite the defeat against Caruana in the Armageddon, Praggnananda is still in third place with 13 points, a full point ahead of Alireza. Caruana comes in at 10.5 ahead of Liren (6) in the standings, which spoiled Nakamura's party.
In the women's category, R Vaishali suffered another defeat at the hands of China's Tingjie Lei and slipped to fourth place, while Koneru Humpy lost to tournament leader Wenju Xu of China.China's Wenjun Xu has strengthened her claim for the title with 16 points. Ukraine's Tingjie Lei and Anna Muzychuk are 1.5 points behind them while Vaishali is fourth with 11.5 points ahead of Hampi who is on nine points. Experienced Swede Pia Crammling is in last place with 6.5 points.
Vaishali was the only player to lose in the classical game, while all other matches saw an Armageddon battle after a draw in the normal game.
The English opening does not seem like a dangerous option, but Tingjie took advantage with a slightly favorable color at the start as Vaishali's pawn structure fell a bit short.Picking up a pawn on the queen side, the Chinese took advantage of his better-positioned rook to attack the seventh rank and it was soon all over for the Indian in just 28 moves.
Humpy had one last chance but could not take advantage of it as white against Wenjun Xu. The Chinese easily equaled Black in the Ragozin Defense in the early middlegame and comfortably equalized in the ensuing rooks and pawns endgame.
Hampi decided to go all out in Armageddon, but the plan failed as Wenjun faced a tactical skirmish to win a rook in the middle game. The game lasted 41 moves.In the men's category, Carlsen was not too happy that the classical game ended in a draw, but he kept his spirits up to win Armageddon, while Liren finally had something to smile about as he defeated Nakamura in style. .
Praggnanandhaa didn't have to break much sweat to stop Caruana under the classical, but the American was a changed player in the Armageddon as he took advantage of his white pieces.
The Indian has the white pieces in the last round game against Nakamura and will hope to take advantage of this.
Men's Round 9 results: Fabiano Caruana (USA, 10.5) beat R Praggnanandhaa (India, 13) 1.5-1; Firozha Alireza (Fr, 12) lost to Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 16) 1-1.5; Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 14.5) lost to Ding Liren (CHN, 6.5) 1-1.5.
Women: Koneru Humpy (IND, 9) lost to Wenjun Xu (CHN, 16) 1.5-1; Tingjie Lei (CHN, 14.5) beat R Vaishali (11.5) 3-0; Pia Krammaling (Sweden, 6.5) lost 1-1.5 to Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 14.5).
With 16 points in his bag, Carlsen extended his lead to 1.5 points over nearest rival Hikaru Nakamura, who was within a stroke of reigning world champion Ding Liren but never once lost his position.
Despite the defeat against Caruana in the Armageddon, Praggnananda is still in third place with 13 points, a full point ahead of Alireza. Caruana comes in at 10.5 ahead of Liren (6) in the standings, which spoiled Nakamura's party.
In the women's category, R Vaishali suffered another defeat at the hands of China's Tingjie Lei and slipped to fourth place, while Koneru Humpy lost to tournament leader Wenju Xu of China.China's Wenjun Xu has strengthened her claim for the title with 16 points. Ukraine's Tingjie Lei and Anna Muzychuk are 1.5 points behind them while Vaishali is fourth with 11.5 points ahead of Hampi who is on nine points. Experienced Swede Pia Crammling is in last place with 6.5 points.
Vaishali was the only player to lose in the classical game, while all other matches saw an Armageddon battle after a draw in the normal game.
The English opening does not seem like a dangerous option, but Tingjie took advantage with a slightly favorable color at the start as Vaishali's pawn structure fell a bit short.Picking up a pawn on the queen side, the Chinese took advantage of his better-positioned rook to attack the seventh rank and it was soon all over for the Indian in just 28 moves.
Humpy had one last chance but could not take advantage of it as white against Wenjun Xu. The Chinese easily equaled Black in the Ragozin Defense in the early middlegame and comfortably equalized in the ensuing rooks and pawns endgame.
Hampi decided to go all out in Armageddon, but the plan failed as Wenjun faced a tactical skirmish to win a rook in the middle game. The game lasted 41 moves.In the men's category, Carlsen was not too happy that the classical game ended in a draw, but he kept his spirits up to win Armageddon, while Liren finally had something to smile about as he defeated Nakamura in style. .
Praggnanandhaa didn't have to break much sweat to stop Caruana under the classical, but the American was a changed player in the Armageddon as he took advantage of his white pieces.
The Indian has the white pieces in the last round game against Nakamura and will hope to take advantage of this.
Men's Round 9 results: Fabiano Caruana (USA, 10.5) beat R Praggnanandhaa (India, 13) 1.5-1; Firozha Alireza (Fr, 12) lost to Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 16) 1-1.5; Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 14.5) lost to Ding Liren (CHN, 6.5) 1-1.5.
Women: Koneru Humpy (IND, 9) lost to Wenjun Xu (CHN, 16) 1.5-1; Tingjie Lei (CHN, 14.5) beat R Vaishali (11.5) 3-0; Pia Krammaling (Sweden, 6.5) lost 1-1.5 to Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 14.5).
