All posts tagged: divya deshmukh

Praggnanandhaa stuns Magnus Carlsen to script history

Praggnanandhaa stuns Magnus Carlsen to script history

Published by Webster

Round eight of Norway Chess 2026 delivered a pivotal day in Oslo, with two decisive classical games and one Armageddon battle adding fresh tension to the race for first place. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu produced another landmark result, defeating Magnus Carlsen once again at Norway Chess 2026 to tighten the title race. The 20-year-old, who had earlier beaten Carlsen with the white pieces last week, repeated the feat with the black pieces in Round 8, marking two classical wins over Carlsen in the same tournament. With this, Praggnanandhaa becomes only the second player after India’s legend Viswanathan Anand to defeat Carlsen twice in the same tournament, and also joins an elite group of players to have beaten the five-time World Champion three times in classical chess. R. Praggnanandhaa beats Magnus Carlsen in Round 8 of #NorwayChess ♟️🇮🇳 Pragg becomes the first Indian since Viswanathan Anand to defeat Magnus in Classical Chess twice in the same tournament, having beaten him in the 3rd round as well 🙌 pic.twitter.com/VccDbW4DFF — The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) June 3, 2026 Alireza Firouzja scored …

Praggnanandhaa beats Alireza Firouzja in round 7

Praggnanandhaa beats Alireza Firouzja in round 7

Published by Webster

Round seven of Norway Chess 2026 kept the pressure on in Oslo, with decisive classical results and tense Armageddon battles on Monday. The headline result came when Indian star Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu defeated Alireza Firouzja of France in a grinding 51-move game. The Indian star outplayed Firouzja in a long struggle and converted his advantage in the middle game with confident technique to score a crucial victory. The result tightens the race at the top of the standings and hands Firouzja his second classical defeat of the tournament, having 10 points after 7 rounds. Meanwhile, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Wesley So drew their game after a tense battle, but the former went on to win the Armageddon game, collecting the additional points. 📊 Standings Update 🇰🇿 Bibisara Assaubayeva is on top of Norway Chess Women, now leading by 2.5 points after another huge classical win over Zhu Jiner 🔥 At Norway Chess, 🇺🇸 Wesley So stays at the top with a 2,5 point lead after his closest chaser Alireza Firouzja drops back… pic.twitter.com/nGGB9i2n06 — Norway …

Norway Chess: Gukesh drops to last spot; Divya Deshmukh chasing title | Chess News

Norway Chess: Gukesh drops to last spot; Divya Deshmukh chasing title | Chess News

Published by Webster

2 min readUpdated: Jun 2, 2026 11:47 AM IST World champion D Gukesh slipped down to the last place in the open standings at Norway Chess after being unable to convert his hefty advantage against American grandmaster Wesley So in their round 7 game on Monday. But the mystery of the Wesley So vs Gukesh game was why the American agreed to a draw on the 40th move when the Indian was down to barely a minute on his clock which meant he would have had to survive for the rest of the game on 10-second increments per move. The good news for the Indian who just turned 20 is that even though he is last in the six-player standings, he’s just 4.5 points off the top of the table, which is currently occupied by So with 12.5 points. Just above Gukesh in fifth spot is compatriot R Praggnananddha, with nine points along with Vincent Keymer and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. Praggnananddha defeated Alireza Firouzja in their classical battle. After defeating Magnus Carlsen and …

Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Divya all lose in Round 6

Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Divya all lose in Round 6

Published by Webster

India’s Gukesh Dommaraju, Praggananandhaa Rameshbabu, and Divya Deshmukh all fell to losses in their respective Round 6 games at the 2026 Norway Chess on Sunday. Praggnanandhaa, who was bested by GM Wesley So, now sits last in the standings. In what was a long tiring battle, So handled complications well and converted his chances in the endgame to secure three points and move to the top of the standings. Meanwhile, the reigning world champion Gukesh went down to Germany’s Vincent Keymer with the black pieces in a 52-move encounter. Divya concedes the lead Divya Deshmukh, who had climbed to sole lead in the women’s section with her Round 5 win on Saturday, went down to the reigning women’s world champion Ju Wenjun. The Chinese Grandmaster went on the offensive and slowly suffocated Deshmukh to draw out a resignation. Elsewhere, Koneru Humpy held Bibisara Assaubayeva to a draw in the classical match before going down in an Armageddon. The win over Humpy propelled Assaubayeva to sole lead in the women’s event. While Assaubayeva currently sits at …

Magnus Carlsen pulls out ‘proper old guy move’ in win over Alireza Firouzja | Chess News

Magnus Carlsen pulls out ‘proper old guy move’ in win over Alireza Firouzja | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readOsloJun 1, 2026 07:04 AM IST It’s starting to happen again. That juggernaut called Magnus Carlsen is starting to gather momentum to chase another title at Norway Chess, however absurd it sounds this time around. After all, it was only yesterday that Carlsen was at the bottom of the standings. A notorious slow starter at tournaments these days, it would have felt like Carlsen had left it too late to power another title challenge. Despite experiencing an unprecedented three losses in five games — to Alireza Firouzja, R Praggnanandhaa and Wesley So — so far at the tournament in Oslo, Carlsen is just four points behind tournament leader Wesley So after he took down the French-Iranian Firouzja in a classical game by playing “old man chess”. Walking into the game on Sunday, Carlsen was asked to rate from 1 to 10 how much of a mood he was in to fight. “1.5,” Carlsen had shrugged before walking away. But on the board, he had opted for an old-school opening trick to try and …

The lightness of Divya Deshmukh, leader of Norway Chess Women tournament | Chess News

The lightness of Divya Deshmukh, leader of Norway Chess Women tournament | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readMay 31, 2026 02:53 PM IST A day before the start of the Norway Chess tournament, at the pre-tournament press conference, Divya Deshmukh found herself answering the familiar old question again. Did she still not consider chess her full-time profession? Flanked by 11 players who definitely consider themselves as full-time chess professionals, Deshmukh answered with nuance that is refreshing for a 20-year-old. “You don’t need to make something a profession to give it a 100 per cent. For me it doesn’t matter if I call it a profession or not,” answered Deshmukh, who has spoken about pursuing psychology as a profession. “Just trying to do my best.” After five rounds of the Norway Chess Women tournament, Deshmukh’s best had taken her to the top of the standings, with her latest win in the classical format over Chinese star Zhu Jiner being her best performance of the tournament yet. In her previous four rounds, she had four draws and then won three of her Armageddon games. Against Zhu, who’s being touted as a future …

Divya Deshmukh takes sole lead; Gukesh beats Praggnanandhaa

Divya Deshmukh takes sole lead; Gukesh beats Praggnanandhaa

Published by Webster

India’s Divya Deshmukh took the sole lead in the women’s section of the 2026 Norway Chess in Oslo on Saturday. Deshmukh, 20, took down China’s Jhu Ziner in the only classical victory of Round 5 in the women’s event. Playing with the black pieces, Deshmukh emerged victorious after a long drawn end-game battle against the world No 4 to overtake Bibisara Assaubayeva as the sole leader of the competition. Deshmukh currently has 8.5 points out of 5 matches in the tournament. Gukesh pips Praggnanandhaa Elsewhere in the open section, the reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju pipped fellow Indian Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in the fifth round. Praggnanandhaa held the initiative for much of the game before Gukesh seized his opportunity in the latter stages of the match. Under increasing pressure and time trouble, Praggnanandhaa was unable to hold the position, allowing Gukesh to convert his advantage and secure the victory. Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa are placed third and fourth respectively in the standings. Meanwhile, Wesely So of the United States took down world No 1 Magnus Carlsen whereas …

At Norway Chess, the Armageddon exhausts the players and thrills the crowd | Chess News

At Norway Chess, the Armageddon exhausts the players and thrills the crowd | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readOsloMay 30, 2026 11:42 PM IST After Divya Deshmukh prevailed in a nerve-wracking Armageddon game against compatriot Koneru Humpy, she turned up for media interactions with tiny droplets of tears in her eyes. Not emotion. Not happiness.“I’m just exhausted,” she said. In her first appearance at Norway Chess, one of the strongest invitational tournaments she has been part of, Deshmukh had gone through the Armageddon four times in four days — prevailing three times before her luck ran out in the fourth. The tears were not dramatic. They were simply what four consecutive days of maximum pressure looked like on a human face. The Armageddon has been Norway Chess’ defining innovation since 2019. When a classical game ends in a draw, players have a few minutes to compose themselves and draw up battle plans before returning for a sudden-death tiebreaker. White gets 10 minutes on the clock. Black gets seven. But black only needs a draw to win the Armageddon. White must win outright. It has all the harakiri of a penalty shootout …

Magnus Carlsen defeats World Champion Gukesh in Norway Chess 2026 clash

Magnus Carlsen defeats World Champion Gukesh in Norway Chess 2026 clash

Published by Webster

Magnus Carlsen emerged victorious in the marquee matchup of Round 4 at Norway Chess 2026, defeating reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a closely fought classical game in Oslo on Thursday. Playing with the black pieces, Carlsen gradually gained the upper hand in a position that remained balanced for much of the contest. The turning point came in the middlegame, where the world No. 1 capitalised on his opportunities and increased the pressure on Gukesh. Facing a difficult position and mounting time trouble, the Indian grandmaster was unable to recover as Carlsen converted his advantage into a valuable victory. The result boosted Carlsen’s standing in the tournament after a relatively slow start and kept him firmly in contention for the title. Praggnanandhaa wins Armageddon as Firouzja stays on top The other two games in the open section ended in draws before being decided through Armageddon tiebreaks. Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja shared the point in their classical encounter, but So prevailed in Armageddon to secure the bonus point. Meanwhile, R Praggnanandhaa and Vincent Keymer drew …

Norway Chess’ confessional booth has a new star: Divya Deshmukh | Chess News

Norway Chess’ confessional booth has a new star: Divya Deshmukh | Chess News

Published by Webster

5 min readOsloMay 26, 2026 11:26 AM IST After she’s waited a long while for her opponent, reigning women’s world champion Ju Wenjun, to make a move, Divya Deshmukh drifts off to the confessional booth. It’s her first-ever appearance at the Norway Chess Women’s tournament. And Deshmukh has some unfiltered thoughts she wants to share. “I saw that there are some people sleeping while sitting in the first row,” she quips with a cheeky grin. “Honestly, I don’t blame them. It’s what I would have done too.” She proceeds to drops another nugget. “I’m actually getting a bit hungry,” she says wistfully. “There’s a packet of dried mango kept on the table (in the player’s lounge). But I am unsure if we can eat it. It might be kept there for promotional causes.” An innovation of the Norway Chess tournament, the confessional booth is a special, sound-proof room near the playing hall that players are encouraged to walk into in the middle of their game, and without being asked by anyone, bare their unfiltered thoughts …