12th Norway Chess R3: Praggnanandhaa crushes Carlsen, scoring his first-ever Classical win against the World no.1
R Praggnanandhaa defeated Magnus Carlsen for the first time at Airthings Masters 2022. Earlier this month, Praggnanandhaa scored his first-ever over-the-board rated game win over the World no.1 at Grand Chess Tour Superbet Blitz 2024 in Warsaw, Poland. A few hours ago, on Wednesday 29th May, in the third round of 12th Norway Chess 2024, the teenager managed to beat the Norwegian for the first time in a Classical rated game. He got a better position out of the opening and converted his advantage into a win. Although he felt that he allowed his opponent to equalize, the FIDE World Cup 2023 winner, did not get a chance to recuperate. They will face each other again in Round 8. His next opponent is Hikaru Nakamura (USA) who defeated Alireza Firouzja (USA) in Armageddon for the second consecutive year at this event. Round 4 starts today from 5 p.m. CET, 8:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Norway Chess/Stev Bonhage
Praggnanandhaa is the new sole leader
R Praggnanandhaa has emerged sole leader 5.5/9. He is also now World no.11 in the live ratings. Fabiano Caruana (USA) is close in pursuit 5/9. Caruana defeated the world champion - Ding Liren (CHN) in Classical game to score three points. Hikaru Nakamura (USA) is at 4/9 after his win over Alireza Firouzja (FRA).
Praggnanandhaa - Carlsen: 3-0
Earlier this month, R Praggnanandhaa scored his first over-the-board rated game victory at Superbet Blitz against Magnus Carlsen in Warsaw, Poland. He has defeated the world no.1 in online rapid games back in February 2022. However, a win in Classical chess was yet to be achieved. In Sicilian Kan, Praggnanandhaa made his intentions clear when he went 13.f5.
13.f5 is a thematic idea. Black did not want to play e5 and lose control of the d5-square. Then White's plan would have been to maneuever the d4-knight to d5 via c2-e3. The game continued 13...Qd7 14.Bg5 Be7 15.Rad1 Rc8 16.Qe2 e5 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nc2 White's position is absolutely pleasant to play. Black's f6-bishop is blindsided by its own e5-pawn.
Black king could not castle as that would increase the vulnerability. However, the king being stranded in the middle did not help his case either. 25.Qh5+ Kf8 26.Rf3 Bxd5 27.Rxd5 Qb6 28.bxc4 Rxc4 29.Rb3 Rb4 30.Rdd3 Rxb3 31.Rxb3 Qc7 32.Qd1 g6 33.Qb1 and it's over. White is ready to invade via the back rank. Praggnanandhaa won the game in another four moves, scoring his first Classical rated game win over Magnus.
Caruana - Liren: 3-0
Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2805) went into the confessional for the first time in eight years, according to him. He mentioned, "I played a new idea, it’s completely new, and it’s in Ding’s favourite variation. He played it in the Candidates, he played it a million times, and he knows probably everything about it but it looks like he is still a bit surprised of what I came up with".
Caruana mentioned that after 14.a4 Black can play almost anything like rook, knight or even a queen move and that would be fine. The game eventually fizzled out into a draw.
25...Qc6?? ignored the idea behind 25.Nf5. Find out the finishing blow for White which Caruana played in the game.
Nakamura - Firouzja: 1.5-1
The Classical game between Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2794) and Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2737) ended in a draw. Despite needing a draw in Armageddon as Firouzja had the black pieces, he played aggressively, sacrificed a pawn. Eventually, he lost on time for the second consecutive game. The position was losing too.
Replay live stream
Replay Round 3 games
Round 3 results
Standings after Round 3
Round 4 pairings
Format
6 players will take part in the Tournament.
The Tournament is a double-round event with Armageddon.
The Tournament consists of 10 rounds.
Time Control
Each player will have 120 minutes on the clock with an increment of 10 seconds starting from move 41. The time control for the Armageddon game: white has 10 minutes and black has 7 minutes with an increment for both players of 1 second per move, starting from move 41.
Draw by Mutual Agreement
Players are not allowed to agree to a draw until at least 30 moves have been made by each player. This rule does not apply to Armageddon games.
Armageddon
If the classical game is drawn, an Armageddon game will be played. It shall start within 20 minutes of the conclusion of the classical game. The player with White pieces will continue with White in Armageddon. If the Armageddon game is drawn, black will win.
Points
Players will get the following points per round:
Win in the classical game: 3 points
Loss in the classical game: 0 points
Draw in the classical game & win Armageddon: 1½ points
Draw in the classical game & loss Armageddon: 1 point
Schedule
From 27th May to 7th June, every day game starts at 5 p.m. local time and 8:30 p.m. IST. Rest days are on Friday 31st May and Wednesday 5th June.
Prize money
Prize Money The total prize fund of the Tournament is 1690000 NOK. Distribution of Prize money occurs as followed:
1st - NOK 700000
2nd - NOK 350000
3rd - NOK 200000
4th - NOK 170000
5th - NOK 150000
6th - NOK 120000
Watch the tournaments live at the venue:
SR-Bank in Stavanger City.
Address: Christen Tranes Gate 35, 4007 Stavanger
All tickets are purchased directly at the venue. No pre-sale.
It is possible to reserve tickets, however, this is normally not necessary due to good capacity at the venue. Reserve your ticket by e-mailing the desired dates and names to: bjorn@norwaychess.com.
Ticket prices per day:
Adults: 200 NOK
Children: 100 NOK
Family: 400 NOK
Links
Norway Chess: Official site, facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube, linkedin
