Norway Chess: Koneru Humpy tops women’s standings despite defeat; Arjun Erigaisi 4th, Gukesh last in open standings

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Koneru Humpy beat Lei Tingjie in fifth round of Norway Chess in Armageddon to become sole leader in women's section. (Michal Walusza/Norway Chess)

India’s Koneru Humpy took the sole lead in the Norway Chess women’s event at the halfway stage after prevailing over China’s Lei Tingjie in the Armageddon contest after their fifth-round classical clash ended in a draw after 31 moves with Humpy playing with white pieces. Trailing the Indian veteran, who has 8.5 points, in the standings is Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk, who has eight points.

Meanwhile, the fifth round also saw a win for the other Indian player in the women’s section, Vaishali Rameshbabu, who took down Spain’s Sarasadat Khademalsharieh in just 35 moves. The Vaishali vs Sara game was one of the rare clashes on Saturday that gave a decisive result, and did not need Armageddon games to decide the winner.

The men’s event saw all three games end in draws, which means Armageddon was needed to separate the players. As per the rules of the tournament, a win in the classical section earns three points while a win in Armageddon earns a player 1.5 points. A defeat in Armageddon gets one point. In the Armageddon, the player with white pieces needs to win the game and has 10 minutes on their clock while the player having black pieces gets just seven minutes, but they just need to draw. Players get an increment of 1 second per move, starting from move 41 in the Armageddon.

Magnus Carlsen emerged as the runaway leader in the open section, with two wins and three draws so far. While he had lost his previous two Armageddon games, he finally managed to win one at last, defeating Fabiano Caruana. Meanwhile, reigning world champion Gukesh lost to China’s Wei Yi to halt a run of two wins (one in classical and another in Armageddon).

Arjun Erigaisi beat an unhappy-looking Hikaru Nakamura in their Armageddon clash.

After five rounds, Carlsen has 9.5 points, while Caruana is second with eight points. Among Indians, Arjun is the highest-placed (4th) with six points, while Gukesh is last with 5.5 points.

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