New Delhi: India’s campaign at Norway Chess suffered a major blow in Round 6 as all four Indian players ended the day with defeats, losing ground in both the Open and Women’s competitions.
World champion D Gukesh was unable to build on his improved performance from the previous round. The teenager went down to Germany’s Vincent Keymer after running into severe time trouble during the closing stages of the game, according to chess.com.
The defeat left Gukesh on 6.5 points. Keymer moved up to eight points and strengthened his position in the race for the title.
R Praggnanandhaa also endured another difficult outing. The Indian Grandmaster lost to American Wesley So, who converted a small endgame advantage into a full three-point victory. The result lifted So to the top of the standings with 11.5 points.
Praggnanandhaa remained at the bottom of the six-player field with six points.
Defending champion Magnus Carlsen continued his strong comeback with a classical win over France’s Alireza Firouzja. The victory took the Norwegian star to 7.5 points and kept him firmly in contention with four rounds remaining.
Firouzja’s defeat cost him the tournament lead, allowing So to take the lead. Keymer and Carlsen have also worked their way back into the title race after difficult starts to the event.
Despite the setback, Gukesh remained optimistic about his chances and said he still hopes to make a strong comeback over the remaining rounds.
In the women’s section, Divya Deshmukh surrendered the top spot after losing her classical game against China’s Ju Wenjun. Divya now has 8.5 points, while Ju improved to eight points.
The result allowed Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva to extend her lead. Assaubayeva defeated Koneru Humpy in the Armageddon tie-break after their classical game ended in a draw. She now leads the standings with 9.5 points.
Humpy, who has 5.5 points, remains at the bottom of the table and continues to search for consistency in the tournament.
With four rounds still left, both the Open and Women’s titles remain undecided. However, the latest round has increased the pressure on the Indian contingent to produce a strong finish in Oslo.
