Norway Chess Open Praggnanandhaa takes first place, while Viswanathan Anand comes in third

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa of India won the Norway Chess Open, a Group A event hosted on the fringes of the top-tier traditional event that featured Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, with 7.5 points from nine games.

On Friday, the 16-year-old Indian Grandmaster defeated compatriot IM V Praneeth in the ninth and final round, continuing his winning streak after finishing second in the Chessable Masters on the Champions Chess Tour a few weeks ago.

Praggnanandhaa, the tournament’s top seed, established his reputation as one of the best up-and-coming players by adding another feather to his cap.

He finished one point clear of his closest competitors, Israeli International Master (IM) Marsel Efroimski and Swedish International Master (IM) Jung Min Seo, who tied for second place.

Pragg lost in the tiebreak of the Chessable Masters to China’s World No. 2 Ding Liren in the two-day, two-match final, after battling back from a loss in the first match to equal scores before falling in the blitz playoffs.

It was an incredible performance by a 16-year-old high school student who had beaten several elite players in the tournament, including World No. 1 Carlsen.

Despite cutting back on his workload, Viswanathan Anand showed he still had a lot of fight in him by finishing third in the Norway Chess 2022, one of the strongest classical chess events in recent years.

Anand defeated Norway’s Aryan Tari in the last round on Friday night, winning their mini-match in an Armageddon game after their traditional match ended in a stalemate. To win the title, Anand needed to win the last round of the classical game and hope that his opponents were kept to a draw. He did not take the risk in the traditional game, opting instead for a fast draw.

With 14.5 points, Anand came in third behind World Champion Magnus Carlsen (16.5 points) and Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (15.5).

Carlsen won the tiebreaker game against Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov, while Mamedyarov was held to a draw by compatriot Taimour Radjabov, who emerged victorious in the tiebreak. As a result, Mamedyarov was unable to close the one-point gap that existed before the last round.