Norway Chess: Carlsen suffers shock defeat, Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa make winning start
Magnus Carlsen suffered a rare opening-round defeat to Alireza Firouzja at Norway Chess after a costly time-trouble blunder, with Firouzja converting clinically to take full points. Meanwhile, D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa started strongly, both securing Armageddon wins to begin their campaigns on a high.
World champion D Gukesh and compatriot R Praggnanandhaa opened their campaigns with hard-fought victories at Norway Chess, while world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen suffered a rare opening-round defeat to Alireza Firouzja in Stavanger.
Gukesh emerged victorious after a bruising, nerve-jangling marathon battle against Vincent Keymer that stretched to 144 moves and lasted nearly five hours. The classical contest eventually ended in a draw, with Keymer pressing hard in the endgame despite being only a pawn up. The Indian world champion appeared visibly rattled in the closing stages and even sought clarification from the arbiter regarding the move count as the game drifted towards an inevitable stalemate.
However, Gukesh regrouped impressively for the Armageddon tie-break and wrapped it up in swift fashion. A decisive 15.Bh6 proved too strong for Keymer, sealing the Indian teenager’s victory and earning him 1.5 points, while the German settled for one.
Praggnanandhaa also had to rely on the tie-break to secure victory. The Indian No. 2 played out a balanced classical draw against Wesley So before producing a sharp attacking display in Armageddon to claim the extra half-point and join Gukesh in second place.
CARLSEN SUFFERS RARE DEFEAT
The biggest talking point of the opening round, though, was Carlsen’s defeat on home soil. The defending champion looked in control for large parts of his game against Firouzja, but severe time trouble resulted in a costly blunder that shifted the momentum decisively. Firouzja capitalised with clinical precision to secure all three points and hand Carlsen one of his rare losses in classical chess.
Firouzja’s win was made more remarkable by the fact that he played with his injured ankle strapped in a protective “moon shoe” after hurting himself during the Superbet Chess Classic Romania. The French grandmaster showed composure throughout and surged to the top of the standings with three points.
DIVYA SHINES, HUMPY FALTERS
In the women’s section, Bibisara Assaubayeva scored an impressive classical victory over Indian No. 1 Koneru Humpy to take the early lead. Defending champion Anna Muzychuk drew her classical game with Zhu Jiner before the latter prevailed in Armageddon. Reigning women’s world champion Ju Wenjun and Divya Deshmukh also split the classical point, with Divya clinching the tie-break victory.
After the opening round, Firouzja led the Open standings with three points, while Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa had 1.5 points each. In the women’s event, Assaubayeva topped the table, with Divya and Zhu jointly second.