R. Praggnanandhaa and Koneru Humpy scored victories on the first day of the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger, Norway, on Monday. However, R. Vaishali, the other Indian player, lost to the women’s World champion Ju Wenjun of China.
The male World champion from China, Ding Liren, didn’t start well. He drew with former World champion Magnus Carslen in the classical game quickly, in just 14 moves. However, in the Armageddon game that followed, he couldn’t secure a win, playing with the white pieces. Carslen only needed a draw, which he got in 65 moves.
All six matches of the day, three in the open section and three in the women’s section, ended in draws in the classical games. So, Armageddon had to be played to determine the winner.
Praggnanandhaa won his Armageddon against France’s Alireza Firouzja, while Hikaru Nakamura, playing with black pieces, won against Fabiano Caruana in an all-American match.
In the women’s event, Humpy drew her Armageddon game with veteran Swedish player Pia Cramling, while China’s Lei Tingjie won her Armageddon game with black pieces against Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.
