Vaishali extended her lead in the tournament, reaching 8.5 points after defeating veteran Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling. This victory, her second consecutive win in classical time control, solidifies her position at the top of the leaderboard.Trailing Vaishali are Women’s World Champion Wenjun Ju of China and Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine, both with 6.5 points.
Muzychuk secured her first victory of the tournament against Koneru Humpy, while Wenjun emerged victorious against her compatriot Tingjie Lei after a tiebreak.
In the men’s section, World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen secured a crucial victory against his long-time rival Fabiano Caruana. French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja also scored a significant win against reigning World Champion Ding Liren.
Hikaru Nakamura of the USA currently leads the men’s section with 7 points, followed by Alireza with 6.5 points. Carlsen sits in third place with 6 points, while Praggnanandhaa, after his loss to Nakamura, holds the fourth position with 5.5 points.
Vaishali’s victory was a testament to her resilience. Despite a drawn rook and pawns endgame, she capitalized on a critical blunder by Cramling to secure the win. Similarly, Muzychuk’s victory over Humpy also stemmed from a decisive error by Humpy in a drawn rook and pawns endgame.
Praggnanandhaa’s loss to Nakamura was characterized by a series of unforced errors. Despite achieving a dynamic balance in the middle game, Praggnanandhaa’s over-optimistic knight sacrifice backfired, allowing Nakamura to capitalize on his material advantage and secure the win.
The tournament, with a prize purse of USD 1,61,000, is far from over, with six rounds remaining in the double round-robin format. The upcoming rounds promise to be crucial for all players as they vie for the top spot.
Men: Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 7) beat R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 5.5) 3-0; Fabiano Caruana (USA, 5) lost to Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 6) 0-3; Firouzja Alireza (Fra, 6.5) beat Ding Liren (Chn, 2.5) 3-0.
Women: Pia Cramling (Swe, 3) lost to R Vaishali (Ind, 8.5); Tingjie Lei (Chn, 5) lost to Wenjun Ju (Chn, 6); Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 6) beat Koneru Humpy (Ind, 3).
(Inputs from PTI)