Chess: Vaishali defeated Cramling in Norway tournament, Praggnanandhaa lost to Nakamura

It was a mixed day for Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali and his brother Praggnanandhaa at the Norway Chess tournament. In the women’s category, while Vaishali defeated Sweden’s Pia Cramling, in the men’s category, Praggnanandhaa lost to America’s Hikaru Nakamura in the fourth round. After this defeat, Praggnanandhaa has slipped to the fourth position with 5.5 points. Interestingly, in the men’s category, the results of all the matches were declared on this day, but Praggnanandhaa could not make an impact and was defeated.

Vaishali registers second win

This is Vaishali’s second win in the classical category and she has gained a strong lead of 2.5 points. The Indian player now has a total of 8.5 points. She is followed by women’s world champion Wenjun Xu of China and Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine in joint second place. Muzychuk registered her first win in the tournament by defeating India’s Koneru Humpy, while Wenjun defeated her compatriot Tingjie Lei in Armagedon. Six rounds are yet to be played in the tournament being played on a double round robin basis between six players. Lei is in fourth place with five points. Humpy and Cramling have three points each.

Carlsen also wins, Nakamura remains on top
In the men’s category, world number one player Magnus Carlsen defeated his long-time rival Fabiano Caruana of America. At the same time, Firouzja Alireza of France defeated the current world champion Ding Liren of China. After the fourth round of this competition, Nakamura remains on top with seven points. He is half a point ahead of Alireza. Carlsen has six points and is in third place, while Caruana is fifth with five points and Liren is in last place with only 2.5 points.