Norway Chess 2024: R Praggnanandhaa Enters Top 10 After Shocking World No.2 Fabiano Caruana

Stavanger: Indian chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa defeated world no. 2 Fabiano Caruana in the fifth round of the Norway Chess tournament to climb into the top 10 of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) world rankings. With this win, Praggnanandhaa remained at third spot in the tournament with 8.5 points. The defeat also put Caruana drop to third in world rankings. Hikaru Nakamura of the United States got the better of off-colour world champion Ding Liren of China to stretch his lead to a full point over Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
With 10 points in his bag, Nakamura has a full point lead over Carlsen at the half way stage of this USD 161000 prize money tournament. Carlsen outwitted Firouzja Alireza of France from a drawn rook and pawns endgame. With five rounds still to come, the world number one is followed by Praggnanandhaa while a distant fourth now is Alireza who remained on 6.5 following his loss. Caruana on five is in fifth spot while Ding Liren is clearly not enjoying the event with just 2.5 points to his credit.

Pragg takes Fabiano Caruana down, and climbs into the world’s top 10! pic.twitter.com/xyb8JTODKW
— Chess.com (@chesscom) June 1, 2024

“PRAGG IS BACK!! Young prodigy Praggnanandhaa stuns the chess world again by defeating World No.2 Fabiano Caruana in Round 5! After toppling World No.1 Magnus Carlsen in Round 3, he’s now beaten the top two players in classical chess for the first time ever, rocketing into the top 10!,” Norway Chess posted on ‘X’

PRAGG IS BACK
Young prodigy Praggnanandhaa stuns the chess world again by defeating World No.2 Fabiano Caruana in Round 5! After toppling World No.1 Magnus Carlsen in Round 3, he’s now beaten the top two players in classical chess for the first time ever, rocketing into… pic.twitter.com/VJXvndT9n1
— Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) June 1, 2024

The 18-year old defeated the Norwegian in round 3 using the white pieces and some intelligent moves.
Among women, Praggnanandhaa’s sister R Vaishali continued her dream run and defeated Tingkie Lei of China in the Armageddon game to keep her lead on 10 points. Anna Muzychuk is the closest to the Indian and is a full point behind after defeating Pia Cramling of Sweden in the Classical game.
Women’s world champion Wenjun Ju is third on 7.5 after scoring her fifth straight victory in the Armageddon over Koneru Humpy. Praggnanandhaa played out a Carlsenque endgame to grind down Caruana. The Catalan opening by the Indian saw exchange of pieces at regular intervals and the players reached a rook and knight endgame before the 40th move itself.
This was Vaishali’s second win under Armageddon in the tournament along with two wins in Classical. Her lone loss came against Wenjun Ju in the first round. This year, the Norway Chess tournament introduced women’s competition, thus showcasing best female players globally.