Norway Chess: Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali lose; Carlsen, Tingjie secure crucial wins in Rd-9

Praggnanandhaa R of India falls to Fabiano Caruana in Armageddon; Caruana maintains hopes for title.

Stavanger: As the Norway Chess inches towards a thrilling conclusion, the stakes have never been higher. All classical games of Round 9 in the prestigious Norway Chess main event ended in a draw, going into an Armageddon tie-breaker to determine a match winner.

India’s Praggnanandhaa R went down in Armageddon against Fabiano Caruana, who is having an outside chance of winning the title. He will have to beat Hikaru Nakamura in a must-win final round and hope the local hero Magnus Carlsen loses his game against Caruana.

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The five-time World Champion Carlsen extended his lead with an Armageddon win over Alireza Firouzja in Round 9. This means that a win in the final round for Carlsen would guarantee him winning the tournament outright.

Nakamura, who lost against the reigning World Champion Ding Liren in Armageddon, will need to win the last game with Black against Praggnanandhaa to have a shot at winning the tournament.

Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, the only classical win of the day came from the Lei Tingjie vs. Vaishali R game. The Chinese GM earned a decisive victory with the white pieces in 30 moves and has significantly increased her chances of winning the tournament in the final round.

The Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun defeated Koneru Humpy in Armageddon to lead the competition by 1.5 points, while Anna Muzychuk registered a tie-break win over Pia Cramling.

With the tournament reaching its final round, only 1.5 points separate Wenjun, Tingjie and Muzychuk at the top of the table in the women’s tournament as the inaugural edition of the Norway Chess 2024 Women’s Tournament is set for a thrilling finish.