India's Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa claims Norway chess open title

India's young Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa claimed the title in Norway Chess Group A open chess tournament with 7.5 points from nine rounds. Praggnanandhaa remained unbeaten throughout all nine rounds. In the final he defeated his fellow countrymate V  Praneeth, who is an International Master. 

Congratulations to Praggnanandhaa, who won the #NorwayChess Open Tournament after scoring 7,5 out of 9. He finished one point ahead of nearest rivals Marsel Efroimski and Jung Min Seo, who shared second place. pic.twitter.com/zLJWEAfwAw — Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) June 10, 2022

Praggnanandhaa (Elo 2642) finished a full point ahead of second-placed IM Marsel Efroimski (Israel) and IM Jung Min Seo (Sweden).

Praneeth with six points was joint third but was placed sixth due to an inferior tie-break score.

Apart from beating Praneeth, Praggnanandhaa posted wins over Victor Mikhalevski (in round 8), Vitaly Kunin (round 6), Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov (round 4), Semen Mutusov (round 2) and Mathias Unneland (round 1). He drew his other three games.

The Indian teenaged star has been putting in impressive performances in recent times and had beaten world number one Magnus Carlsen for a second time in the Chessable Master online event and lost a close final to China's Ding Liren.

Final standings after the ninth round of #NorwayChess. pic.twitter.com/q5Bzf1M3bv — Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) June 10, 2022

The GM will be part of the India B team in the open event of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai next month.

Praggnanandhaa's coach R B Ramesh congratulated him after the win and said it will help boost his confidence.

"Congratulations to him for the victory. He was the top seed, so it is not a surprise that he won the tournament. He played well in general, drew three games with black pieces and won the remaining games. It will help boost his confidence," Ramesh said.