Following up his smashing victory over world number one Magnus Carlsen earlier in the week, India's 18-year-old Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa secured a gritty win against the second-ranked Fabiano Caruana of the United States on Saturday (local time). With that, Praggnanandhaa entered the top 10 of world rankings after the fifth round of Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger. (More Chess News)
Meanwhile, United States' Hikaru Nakamura 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 kitty, Nakamura has a one-point point lead over Carlsen at the halfway stage of the tournament. Carlsen outplayed Firouzja Alireza of France and with five rounds still to come, the world number one is followed by Praggnanandhaa on 8.5 points.
In the women's event being held concurrently, Praggnanandhaa's sister R Vaishali continued her dream run and beat Lei Tingjie of China 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.
Lei stands fourth on six points, two points clear of Humpy who seems to be struggling at the half-way mark. Cramling with three points is at the bottom of the tables.
Results, round 5 men: R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 8.5) beat Fabiano Caruana (USA, 5); Ding Liren (CHN, 2.5) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 10); Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 9) beat Firouzja Alireza (FRA, 6.5).
Women: R Vaishali (IND, 10) beat Tingjie Lei (CHN, 6); Wenjun Ju (CHN, 7.5) beat Koneru Humpy (IND, 4); Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 9) beat Pia Cramling (SWE, 3).
(With PTI inputs)
