Indian GM R Praggnanandhaa clinches title in Norway Chess Open

OSLO (Norway): India's Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won the Norway Chess Group A open chess tournament after netting 7.5 points from nine rounds.

The rising Indian star finished a point ahead Marsel Efroimski and Jung Min Seo, who tied for second place.

The 16-year old GM, the top-seed, remained unbeaten through the nine rounds. He finished the tournament with a win over compatriot V Praneeth.

While, Magnus Carlsen emerged as the winner of the Norway Chess 2022, the competition celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

It is the World Champion's fourth straight title at his home tournament and the fifth overall.

The 10-player round-robin took place at Finansparken in Stavanger, Norway, from May 30 to June 10. Each round consisted of a classical game with a win worth 3 points and a loss - 0.

In case of a draw, the players played an Armageddon game, where the winner scored 1 1/2 points, and the loser got just 1 point with a draw favouring Black.

Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand defeated Norway's Aryan Tari in the ninth and final round of the Classical section to clinch the third place in the Norway Chess tournament on Saturday.

Anand won the Armageddon round against Norwegian after the classical match ended in a 22-move draw. The 52-year-old Indian chess legend had to work hard against a 23-year-old in the sudden death tie-break as he required 87 moves to secure the triumph on Saturday.

Anand finished with 14.5 points to end his tournament campaign in third place behind Carlsen (16.5 points) and Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (15.5). Anand had begun the Classical section with three consecutive victories, defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), and Hao Wang (China) before American Wesley So ended his winning streak in the fourth round. He then pulled off an impressive win over World No. 1 Carlsen.

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