R Praggnanandhaa continued his impressive run at Norway Chess 2026, defeating world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen for the second time in the tournament to remain firmly in contention for the title, while world champion D Gukesh and Divya Deshmukh endured disappointing losses in Round 8 on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old Indian grandmaster, who had earlier beaten Carlsen with the white pieces, repeated the feat with black in a remarkable display. The victory made Praggnanandhaa only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to defeat the Norwegian legend twice in the same tournament. It was also his third classical win over the five-time world champion.
The result tightened the race for the title, with Praggnanandhaa moving to 12 points. Tournament leader Wesley So remained on top with 14 points after drawing his classical game against Vincent Keymer and then prevailing in the Armageddon tiebreak. Alireza Firouzja climbed to 13 points after defeating reigning world champion Gukesh in a hard-fought classical encounter. Firouzja capitalised on a tense endgame and mounting time pressure to secure a crucial full-point victory.
In the women’s event, Divya Deshmukh suffered a setback against tournament leader Bibisara Assaubayeva, who defended resolutely with the black pieces before taking advantage of the Indian teenager’s time trouble. The win helped Assaubayeva extend her lead at the top of the standings to 15.5 points.
Elsewhere, Zhu Jiner defeated women’s world champion Ju Wenjun to move level with Divya on 10 points. Koneru Humpy drew her classical game against Anna Muzychuk before winning the Armageddon tiebreak to collect the bonus points. Muzychuk remains second in the standings with 10.5 points as the tournament heads into its final rounds.
(IANS)
