R Praggnanandhaa defeated D Gukesh in their Round 9 Norway Chess showdown, completing a hat-trick of wins. The Indian GM is a title contender in the ongoing tournament and is in second place with 15 points, behind Wesley So (15.5), who leads the standings. Meanwhile, Alireza Firouzja (14.5) is in third spot.
Praggnanandhaa failed miserably in the recently held Candidates tournament, but will be looking to put behind that disappointment with a title at Norway Chess. He also bagged an unprecedented double against world No. 1 and defending champion Magnus Carlsen on Tuesday.
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‘He does some weird creative stuff’
After his win against Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa spoke to Norway Chess’ official broadcast and looked extremely delighted. “Quite proud about this game honestly, because this is how I usually lose to him. He does some weird creative stuff. I end up overthinking and somehow doing something myself and losing. I thought I managed my time well and I was also calculating well. So I thought it was a good game overall,” he said.
“I’m more happy that I’m still in the race because three days back I was fighting for the last spot. And now I have a chance at fighting. So I’ll take it.”
Despite his current form, it hasn’t been an easy campaign for the 20-year-old. He lost to Wesley So in the sixth round and, before that, fell to Gukesh the previous day. But then he staged a comeback, with a hat-trick of wins.
“I don’t know. I didn’t do anything specific,” he said.
“I felt I played well in this tournament There were couple of positions I could have probably… even the game against Gukesh, when I was playing with white, I was just winning, I outplayed him and then I messed up in time trouble.
“So there were few games where I could have converted and could have had more points. I thought I was playing well. I just had to try and keep some time in reserve.”
Claiming that he wasn’t that worried after his defeats to So and Gukesh. “You can’t be thinking when you’re in the last spot to win three in a row against this opposition. But in general, I’m someone like I want to fight every game. I’m just taking one game at a time. To win one game here is so difficult that you can’t really calculate ‘I’ll do this, I’ll do that’. I think one good thing was that I was just fighting in every game,” he said.
