Latest Sports Updates from ESPN India: Norway Chess, Olympic Qualifiers, and More
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May has plenty of sporting action taking place – which you can find listed out in ESPN India’s sporting calendar.
Norway Chess: Vaishali beats Cramling, Praggnanandhaa loses to Nakamura
Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali continued her dream run to defeat veteran GM Pia Cramling of Sweden, while her brother R Praggnanandhaa went down fighting against Hikaru Nakamura of USA in the fourth round of the Norway chess tournament.
Vaishali stretched her lead to 2.5 points following her second win under classical time control. The Indian now has 8.5 points and is followed by women’s world champion Wenjun Ju of China and Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.
Muzychuk defeated Koneru Humpy for her first win in the tournament while Wenjun got through her compatriot Tingjie Lei in the Armageddon.
With six rounds still remaining in the six-player double round-robin tournament, Lei stands fourth on five points, two points clear of Humpy and Cramling.
In the men’s section, world number one Magnus Carlsen grinded down arch-rival Fabiano Caruana of United States on a day that witnessed all decisive games under classical time control.
Nakamura capitalised on some unforced errors from Praggnanandhaa. The Nimzo Indian defense by the Indian resulted in a dynamic balance but Praggnanandhaa got too optimistic in the resulting middle game and sacrificed a knight.
The compensation, however, was not enough and Nakamura converted his extra material into a full point after 86 moves.
In the other game of the day, Firouzja Alireza of France put it across reigning world champion Ding Liren of China.
Carlsen is third with six points to his credit while Praggnanandhaa slipped to fourth position on 5.5 points. Caruana is a close fifth at this stage with five points while Liren is a distant last on just 2.5 points thus far.
What’s on today?
Boxing: The World Boxing Qualification Tournament, the final chance for Indians to secure Paris Olympic sports, continues in Bangkok.
Chess: The Norway Chess 2024 continues with India’s sibling duo of Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali leading the standings.
Badminton: The Singapore Open Super 750 continues, with the women’s doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly the last standing Indians.
Tennis: N Sriram Balaji and Yuki Bhambri will be seen in doubles action at the French Open.
What happened yesterday?
Chess: R. Praggnanandhaa beat 5-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen to lead the standings at the Norway Chess 2024, while his sister Vaishali tops the women’s category.
Badminton: PV Sindhu lost to Carolina Marin, while HS Prannoy was defeated by Kenta Nishimoto at the Singapore Open. However, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stunned the world No 2 pair of Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee.
Boxing: Sachin Siwach (57kg), Sanjeet Kumar (92kg), Amit Panghal (51kg) and Jaismine (women’s 57kg) progressed at the Olympic qualifiers.
Stay tuned for more updates on Indian sports on ESPN India’s daily blog.