Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Create History: Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnananda created history by winning the title of Norway Chess Championship 2026. Making a spectacular comeback, he defeated Vincent Keimer of Germany in the final and 10th round of the tournament and became the first Indian player to win this prestigious competition. Praggnananda won the title with a strong performance throughout the tournament.
In the 10th and final round of the event played on Friday, Praggnananda defeated Keymer, Wesley So drew with Alireza Firozha, and World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen defeated defending world champion Gukesh Domaraju to end his domestic tournament on a winning note.
Victory achieved in 45th move
Playing with white, Praggnananda took advantage of some mistakes by Keymar in the middle game to win on the 45th move and finish the tournament with 18 points from five wins, two losses and two draws. Both of their drawn matches were decided in the Armageddon game, which they won.
Former world No. 4 Wesley So led overnight, but ended up one point behind the winner. He drew against Alireza Firozha in the last round and finished the tournament with 17 points. He had 2 wins and 8 draws in his account, out of which he won 6 Armageddon matches. In the 10th round, Wesley So scored 1.5 points, while Firozha could only score 1 point.
This was the big rule of the tournament
Alireza Firozha, a French player of Iranian origin, finished third with 15.5 points. There was a special points system in this tournament, in which players got 3 points if they won and 1 point each if the match was drawn. The player who won the Armageddon match played after this could get an additional bonus point.
World No. 1 player Magnus Carlsen, who has won the R.K. twice in this tournament. Lost to Praggnananda, finishing fourth with 13 points. They won 3 matches, lost 4 and drew 3. They got extra points through Armageddon wins in two drawn matches.
Classic World Champion Gukesh in last place
Kimar finished fifth with 11 points, while India’s reigning Classical World Champion Gukesh Domaraju finished sixth and last with eight points from one win, five losses and four draws. All attention was on Praggnananda in the final as he was half a point behind overnight leader Wesley So. Wellesley went ahead after So agreed to an early draw with Firozha. He converted his midgame lead into a convincing victory over Keymer, who made some brilliant moves and took the title.
Also read: The men’s singles final match will be held between two stalwarts, Alexander and Flavio, ready for the title battle.
Praggnananda had slipped to 16th place in the latest world rankings released on June 1. However, he made a strong comeback by showing brilliant performance in Norway Chess and won this prestigious title. After the sixth round, Praggnananda was sixth and last in the points table. However, after this he made a great comeback by winning four consecutive matches. During this, he defeated Magnus Carlsen for the second time and also registered victory against his compatriot D. Gukesh in the penultimate round. On the basis of these victories, he joined the race for the title. This was the first time since Carlsen in 2021 that a player achieved the feat of winning four consecutive matches in this tournament.
With IANS inputs
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