A day of thrilling all-action chess from every player saw boy wonder Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa regain the lead as Magnus Carlsen suffered a shock loss in the Oslo Esports Cup.
With just two rounds to go, 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa kept up the pressure with a dominant 3-point win against the lowest-ranked player in the event Eric Hansen.
Carlsen, meanwhile, lost for the first time to the dangerous Dutchman Jorden van Foreest, a player once jokingly described as the World Champion’s “punching bag”. It leaves Praggnanandhaa as the sole leader in the first Major in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour season.
The youngster was the first to finish and his 2.5-0.5 win sent a clear message that, despite losing to Carlsen in their head-to-head yesterday, Praggnanandhaa is a major threat to the champ.
Explaining his mindset going into today’s match after his setback against Carlsen, the boy from Chennai said: “It’s ok because I played well, and let me play my best chess in the remaining tournament.”
The youngster has now won four of five matches in the event, having lost only to Carlsen. Praggnanandhaa has also picked up $30,000 in prize money. Incredibly, all Praggnanandhaa’s matches so far have ended with a game to spare.
In contrast, Carlsen did not exude his normal confidence against a player he as never lost to.
It didn’t help that Van Foreest, who acted as an advisor to Carlsen at the last World Championship, showed the Tour leader absolutely no respect and took the fight to his former boss right from the word go.
Carlsen quickly found himself in trouble after a blunder lost him the second game left him 1.5-0.5 down.
The Norwegian shook his head in disgust when he realised he’d missed the winning move 20.Bxa6! “It turns out the World Champion is apparently human!” said IM Tania Sachdev, commentating.
Carlsen again found himself on the defensive in the third before the game ended in a second draw.
Now 2-1 behind going into the final game, Carlsen was left in the unfamiliar territory of being a must-win situation. It didn’t happen as van Foreest got the draw to secure the match.
The Dutchman said: “It’s just complete shock right now. I didn’t expect I would beat Magnus in a game let alone in a match. So it’s just shock.
“I was definitely very lucky, I was lost in I think three of the four games but he has been feeling ill here and he blundered a rook in one game.
“Of course, you need a lot of luck to beat Magnus but still it’s a major achievement in my career and I would rate it very highly.”
The two other matches in Round 5 went to tiebreaks with Shakrhiyar Mamedyarov launching a big comeback to beat Anish Giri.
Birthday boy Jan-Krzysztof Duda, 24 today, had his party ruined by Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le who won both blitz games in the tiebreaker.
About Post Author
