Less than 24 hours of losing to Magnus Carlsen, R. Praggnanandhaa regained his form and lead with a crushing 2.5-0.5 triumph over Eric Hansen to become the first player to reach 12 points after five rounds of Oslo Esports Cup online rapid chess tournament in Oslo on Tuesday.
A fourth victory, coupled with Carlsen’s surprise 1.5-2.5 defeat to his second Jorden van Foreest, placed Praggnanandhaa three points ahead of Carlsen and four ahead of Jan-Krzysztoff Duda, Le Quang Liem and Foreest. Two more rounds remain.
Praggnanandhaa seized an early advantage when Hansen misread the situation on the ninth move and played a move of sub-optimal strength. Thereafter, it was the tale of the Indian maximising his advantage over the Canadian, who even after giving up a bishop on the 14th move, could not loosen his rival’s grip. In desperation, Hansen traded his rook for a bishop on the 34th move to delay the inevitable.
Eventually, he resigned on the 49th move.
In the second game, Hansen was better placed after 21 moves but the exchange of queens helped Praggnanandhaa equalise and the position stayed in the balance till the point was split in 72 moves.
Soon into the third game, when Praggnanandhaa held sway, it became clear that once again the Indian would not be required to play the fourth round. Hansen struggled to defend, even gave up his queen for a rook on the 32nd move but gave up four moves later to leave Praggnanandhaa with a resounding win.
Carlsen’s loss in the second game proved decisive against Foreest. In the other two matches, birthday boy Duda and Anish Giri - Praggnanandhaa’s rivals in the last two rounds - lost in blitz tiebreak games.
The results (fifth round): R. Praggnanandhaa bt Eric Hansen (Can) 2.5-0.5; Jorden van Foreest (Ned) bt Magnus Carlsen(Nor) 2.5-1.5;Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) bt Anish Giri (Ned) 3.5-2.5 (Mamedyarov won the blitz tiebreaker 1.5-0.5); Le Quang Liem (Vie) bt Jan-Krzsztof Duda (Pol) 4-2 (Liem won the two blitz tiebreak games).
