Norway Chess: Indian players split results as Praggnanandhaa keeps title hopes alive

Praggnanandhaa’s resilience was on display as he overcame the advantage held by the World champion to pull off a crucial win to take him to 15 points, just half-a-point behind leader Wesley So, who edged out Magnus Carlsen in the Armageddon

R Praggnanandhaa boosted his Norway Chess title hopes with a third straight classical victory, defeating world champion D Gukesh in their Round 9 rematch. After weathering Gukesh’s early aggression in the Nimzo-Indian Sämisch, Pragg defended accurately. The win avenged his earlier loss to Gukesh and moved him within half a point of leader Wesley So heading into the final round.

At Norway Chess Round 8, R Praggnanandhaa defeated Magnus Carlsen for the second time in two weeks, outplaying the World No. 1 in a sharp French Defence to stay in title contention. Meanwhile, Gukesh suffered another classical setback against Alireza Firouzja after a preparation mix-up in the Ragozin Defence. In the women’s event, Divya Deshmukh lost to women's leader Bibisara Assaubayeva.

Indians struck back in style in Round 7 as D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa delivered crucial victories while Divya Deshmukh bounced back from her previous-round setback to beat compatriot Koneru Humpy, reigniting the country's challenge as the Norway Chess title race entered its decisive phase here. World champion Gukesh salvaged 1.5 points from his clash against American Grandmaster Wesley So, securing victory in the Armageddon tie-break after letting a winning opportunity slip in the classical game, to move to eight points overall. He, however, remained rooted to the bottom of the six-player double round-robin standings. Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, handed French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja a second successive classical defeat to collect the full three points and climb to nine, but the gains did little to alter the standings, with the young Indian GM remaining fifth and Gukesh sixth. However, both Indians stayed within touching distance of the leaders and could yet make a late charg

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer played out a hard-fought classical draw in which neither player could break through

Round 7 of Norway Chess saw Indian stars bounce back after a difficult previous round. R Praggnanandhaa defeated Alireza Firouzja in a commanding classical game, while Divya Deshmukh beat Koneru Humpy in an Armageddon tie-break to remain second in the women’s standings. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen and D Gukesh won their Armageddon games but remained at the bottom of the open-section leaderboard.