Praggnanandhaa claims maiden classical win over No. 1 Carlsen

R Praggnanandhaa. Pic/FIDE

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa crushed World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen for the first time in Classical format to emerge as the sole leader in the Norway chess tournament here.

Having beating him a few times in online and faster versions of the game and after losing to him in the finale of the last World Cup, Praggnanandhaa finally got past the home favourite in what would be known as a clear classical triumph.

Following the third-round win, the 18-year-old Indian now leads the men's section with 5.5 points in all, half a point clear of USA's Fabiano Caruana who scored his first victory in classical against reigning world champion Ding Liren of China. Carlsen, on three points, looks like a distant third for now in the updated standings but with each classical win worth three points, this might not hold for too long.

Hikaru Nakamura of United States, Firouzja Alireza of France and Liren are all joint fourth currently on 2.5 points in the six-player double round-robin contest.
In the women's event, Praggnanandhaa's elder sister R Vaishali maintained her sole lead after getting past Anna Muzychuk of Norway in the Armageddon game after drawing the Classical.

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