R Pragyanand created history, defeated World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in classical chess, sister was not far behind.

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Indian Grandmaster R Pragyananda registered his first victory in classical chess against world number one Magnus Carlsen at the Norway Chess Tournament. With this win, Pragyanand has achieved the leader position in the Norway Chess Tournament. The 18-year-old Indian grandmaster, who had earlier defeated Carlson in rapid/performance chess, held the leader’s position with 5.5 points after three rounds. Let us tell you that Pragyanand is the fourth Indian who has defeated Magnus Carlsen in classical chess.

Pragyanandha was playing with white and his win moved home favorite Carlson to fifth place in the points table. Classical chess, also commonly known as slow chess, allows players plenty of time to make their moves, usually at least an hour. Carlson and Pragyananda drew their last three matches in this format.

In other third-round matches, world number two Fabiano Caruana of the United States defeated reigning world champion Ding Liren of China. Leeren has dropped to the bottom of the six-man list after the loss. American Hikaru Nakamura won his Armageddon game against France’s Alireza Firoja to earn an extra half point to move up to third in the standings. Nakamura will face Pragyanandha in the fourth round. Earlier, in the men’s category, Indian Grandmaster R Pragyananda suffered an armageddon tie-breaker defeat after a draw against world champion Ding Liren in normal time control in the second round.

A sister on the way of a brother

Praganandha’s sister R Vaishali also secured the leader position in the women’s competition with 5.5 marks. Vaishali drew her match against Anna Muzychuk in the Norway Chess Tournament. Earlier he defeated compatriot Koneru Hampi. Under classical time control in competition, three points are awarded for each win. Vaishali had four points after the second round and also made up for her first-round Armageddon (sudden death) match loss to Xu Wenjun of China.

Among the women, China’s Lei Tingji and Wenjun are joint second with three points behind India’s latest grandmaster Vaishali. In the six-player double round robin event, Sweden’s Pia Kremling and Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk are joint fourth with two points, while Hampi is sixth with one-and-a-half points.

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