Praggnanandhaa wins Norway Chess Open 2022
Tournament favorite and the top seed of the event, GM Praggnanandhaa won Norway Chess Open 2022 convincingly. He scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 and finished a full point ahead of the competition. In the final round, Praggnanandhaa beat fellow countryman, IM Prraneeth Vuppala to win the tournament. He won 32000 NOK (approx. ₹2.57 lacs) cash as his prize. The 16-year-old performed at 2676 and gained 6.4 Elo rating points. Prraneeth was the only other Indian taking part in this event. He scored 6/9, secured sixth place and earned 3000 NOK (approx. ₹24158). Check out Praggnanandhaa's games from the event. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Norway Chess
Top seed domination
The starting line-up gave an inkling about a sign of things to come. Praggnanandhaa was the highest rated player - 2642. The second seed was GM Victor Mikhalevski (ISR, 2551). The rating gap was 91 which is a lot at that level.
Praggnanandhaa - Mikhalevski, Round 8
Praggnanandhaa completely dominated the position in the middlegame against GM Viktor Mikhalevski (ISR, 2551). 24.Be6 Qa8 25.Bxc7 is how he converted his positional advantage into a win eventually by gaining valuable pawns on the queenside one by one.
Praggnanandhaa went for a celebratory dinner with Vishy Anand and one of the WACA (Westbridge Anand Chess Academy) trainers, GM Sandipan Chanda. Anand referenced 'Thambi' in the tweet. Thambi is the Official Mascot of 44th Chess Olympiad 2022.
A total of 49 players including 7 GMs, 5 IMs, a WGM and 2 WIMs took part from 13 countries across the world. The tournament was organized by Norway Chess, Offerspill, Stavanger and Sandnes Chess Club from 3rd to 10th June 2022 Sparebank 1 SR Bank, Bjergsted Terrasse 1, 4007 Stavanger. The nine-round tournament had a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Replay Praggnanandhaa's games
Final standings
