On a day of mixed fortunes for Indian players at the prestigious Norway Chess tournament, reigning world champion D Gukesh pulled off a thrilling victory over American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana in the Armageddon tie-break, while Arjun Erigaisi fell to Magnus Carlsen’s masterful play in the Classical format.
The 19-year-old Gukesh, who celebrated his birthday on Thursday, held Caruana to a draw in a tense Classical game despite being a pawn down for most of the contest. Displaying resilience under pressure and impeccable defensive acumen, Gukesh ensured the battle extended into the Armageddon stage.
With a three-minute time advantage—white receives ten minutes to black’s seven in Armageddon—the Indian prodigy overcame the odds to seize 1.5 points from the round. The match came less than fifteen minutes after the grueling Classical encounter concluded.
“Most of my birthdays I end up losing the game, so glad it did not repeat in the classical. When I was playing, I felt fine, but when I was losing, I was like, ‘ok, not again’,” said Gukesh.
The teenager, who had previously scored a commendable Classical victory against world No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura in Round 3, now shares fourth place in the six-player field with Erigaisi, both on 4.5 points. Carlsen leads the standings with eight points, followed by Caruana on seven, and Nakamura on 5.5.
Reflecting on his Armageddon performance, Gukesh admitted it is not typically his strong suit but welcomed the morale-boosting win. “The Classical game could have easily gone bad, but luckily, I managed to save it in the time scramble, and then Armageddon was very good,” he added.
Also read: Gukesh prevails over Nakamura in remarkable fightback
Carlsen outplays Erigaisi
Meanwhile, five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen asserted his dominance on home soil with a precise endgame victory over Erigaisi, who played with black pieces. The Norwegian star capitalised on his opponent’s slight inaccuracies to bag the full three points.
Carlsen, employing the English Opening, admitted to taking his time due to the complexity of the position. “You get presented with more and more difficult choices and eventually you go wrong,” remarked the defending champion, who had suffered two Armageddon losses in the previous rounds.
For Erigaisi, this marked his second consecutive defeat, having lost to Caruana in Round 3.
Humpy shares lead despite Armageddon loss
In the women’s division, India’s Koneru Humpy lost her Armageddon tie-break to China’s Ju Wenjun after an earlier draw in Classical format. Despite the setback, Humpy retained a share of the lead with Anna Muzychuk on seven points apiece.
Another Indian, R Vaishali, secured a valuable half-point in her Armageddon win over Muzychuk, improving her tally to 3.5 points and climbing to sixth place.
Results:
Open: Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 8 pts) bt Arjun Erigaisi (Ind, 4.5); D Gukesh (Ind, 4.5) bt Fabiano Caruana (USA, 7) via Armageddon; Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 5.5) lost to Wei Yi (Chn, 4).
Women: Sara Khadem (Esp, 5) bt Li Tingjie (Chn, 4); Ju Wenjun (Chn, 5.5) bt Koneru Humpy (Ind, 7) via Armageddon; R Vaishali (Ind, 3.5) bt Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 7) via Armageddon.
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