STAVANGER (NORWAY), June 2:
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa scored a massive, hard-earned victory over world number two Fabiano Caruana of the United States and made his way to the top 10 of world rankings after the end of fifth round of Norway Chess tournament here.
Hikaru Nakamura of the United States got the better of off-colour world champion Ding Liren of China to stretch his lead to a full point over Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
With 10 points in his bag, Nakamura has a full point lead over Carlsen at the half way stage of this USD 161000 prize money tournament.
Carlsen outwitted Firouzja Alireza of France from a drawn rook and pawns endgame. With five rounds still to come, the world number one is followed by Praggnanandhaa on 8.5 points while a distant fourth now is Alireza who remained on 6.5 following his loss.
Caruana on five is in fifth spot while Ding Liren is clearly not enjoying the event with just 2.5 points to his credit.
In the women’s event being held simultaneously, R Vaishali continued her dream run and defeated Tingkie Lei of China in the Armageddon game to keep her lead on 10 points. (PTI)
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