Norway Chess 2024: Vaishali outwits Cramling, Praggnanandhaa loses to Nakamura

R. Vaishali extended her sole lead while her younger brother R. Praggnanandhaa lost his, in the fourth round of the Norway Chess tournament at Stavanger on Thursday.

Vaishali won her classical game against Sweden’s Pia Cramling with black pieces, making use of her rival’s blunder on the 48th move in an equal ending featuring rook and pawns. Cramling resigned six moves later.

Vaishali thus got three points and took her tally to 8.5. She is followed on six points by World champion Ju Wenjun of China and Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk.

Ju overcame compatriot Lei Tingjie in Armageddon, while Muzychuk defeated Humpy in the classical format itself. Lie has five points, while Humpy and Cramling have three each.

In the open section, Praggnanandhaa was beaten by Hikaru Nakamura in the classical game. The American, who won in 86 moves with black pieces after his opponent failed to get much advantage with his knight sacrifice early on, thus took the sole lead.

Nakamura has seven points, half-a-point ahead of France’s Alireza Firouzja, who beat China’s Ding Liren in classical chess.

The day’s other match also was decided in the same format, as top seed Magnus Carlsen of Norway beat Fabiano Caruana of t United States.

Carlsen is in third place with six points, while Praggnanandhaa has 5.5. The tournament will resume on Saturday after a day’s rest.

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