Praggnandhaa: It was a frustrating day for the Indian Grand Masters as he lost his first position in a rather comfortable manner. After finishing at the top on Thursday, Praggnandhaa was determined to continue his form.
But it was a cruel day that ended with the 18-year-old clutching his head and losing his first position. On the other hand, Magnus Carlsen had a bit of a luck to end the day on a positive note.
On the women’s side of the action, R Vaishali has been cruising in the tournament so far. She increased her lead at the top to 2.5 points. And will enter the rest day with the top spot on the table.
Cruel Day For Praggnandhaa
It was indeed a cruel day as World No.3 Hikaru Nakamura schooled the Indian prodigy. It was an intense match, but according to Nakamura, he was constantly bored because of the time taken by Indians to make a move.
These conversations were caught in the confessional booths, where a player can go anytime to confess something. Nakamura was recorded saying that he is bored as his opponents are thinking too long in every game.
On the other hand, whenever Prag went to the confession booth, he was either frustrated over a wrong move or dejected over what had happened. “It has gone a bit badly for me today,” the Indian admitted.
Magnus Carlsen Eyening Number 1 Spot
On the other hand, after getting defeated by Prag on Thursday, Carlsen was fighting to retain his World No. 1 ranking. Fabiano Caruana could have moved to within the four rating of Carlsen if he had managed to defeat him.
But a motivated Carlsen somehow survived the scare and retained his top spot. It was all thanks to a massive blunder by Caruana himself.
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