Praggnanandhaa 'quite proud' after beating Gukesh to complete hattrick of wins in Norway Chess: 'He does some weird…’

R Praggnanandhaa continued his dream run at Norway Chess, defeating compatriot Grandmaster D Gukesh in the penultimate round on Thursday to complete a hat-trick of Classical wins in Oslo and boost his chances of becoming the first Indian to win the prestigious tournament.

Praggnanandhaa had completed an unprecedented double against world No 1 and current title holder Magnus Carlsen on Tuesday, defeating the Norwegian Grandmaster in 50 moves a day after his victory over Alireza Firouzja.

And on Thursday, following the second and final 'Rest Day' of the tournament, Pragg recorded his second Classical consecutive victory with black pieces, this time avenging his fifth-round loss at the hands of the reigning Classical world champion by defeating him in 34 moves in Round 9.

Despite the fact that he has now won three Classical games on the trot and four overall in the ongoing tournament, which is taking place in Oslo after being held in Stavanger in previous editions, Praggnanandhaa was especially proud about beating Gukesh in his latest outing.

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"Quite proud about this game honestly, because this is how I usually lose to him. He does some weird creative stuff. I end up overthinking and somehow doing something myself and losing. I thought I managed my time well and I was also calculating well. So I thought it was a good game overall," the 20-year-old said in a post-game interview on Norway Chess' official broadcast on Thursday.

"I’m more happy that I’m still in the race because three days back I was fighting for the last spot. And now I have a chance at fighting. So I’ll take it," he continued, reflecting on being stranded at the bottom of the six-player standings after his loss to Wesley So on Sunday.

'Could have had more points'

The defeat against current leader Wesley in the sixth round was his second on the trot, with Pragg having lost to Gukesh in 47 moves while playing as black on the previous day. The Indian GM, however, has staged an incredible comeback since then, responding to the consecutive losses with a hat-trick of wins, which puts him just half-a-point behind Wesley at the second spot.

Praggnanandhaa, however, added that he could have been in the lead heading into the final round of the tournament had he managed his time better in earlier rounds, something that he rectified over the last three games.

"I don’t know. I didn’t do anything specific," Pragg replied, when asked about the mantra behind his new-found success. "I felt I played well in this tournament There were couple of positions I could have probably… even the game against Gukesh, when I was playing with white, I was just winning, I outplayed him and then I messed up in time trouble.

"So there were few games where I could have converted and could have had more points. I thought I was playing well. I just had to try and keep some time in reserve," he continued.

The 2025 Tata Steel Chess champion, who had an underwhelming run at the Fide Candidates in Cyprus recently, also emphasised on focusing on one game at a time instead of thinking too far ahead, especially when lying at the bottom of the standings.

"You can’t be thinking when you’re in the last spot to win three in a row against this opposition. But in general, I’m someone like I want to fight every game. I’m just taking one game at a time. To win one game here is so difficult that you can’t really calculate ‘I’ll do this, I’ll do that’. I think one good thing was that I was just fighting in every game," Praggnanandhaa said.

Bibisara clinches women's title with a round to spare

While Praggnanandhaa finds himself competing for the title along with Wesley and Alireza, Gukesh and Carlsen will be entering the final round hoping to avoid the wooden spoon with the latter having a better chance by virtue of being a couple of points ahead.

As for the women's section, Kazakhstan's Bibisara Assaubayeva clinched the title with a round to spare after playing out a draw against veteran Ukrainian GM Anna Muzychuk, which put her out of everyone else's reach at 16.5 points.

Indian GMs Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy, meanwhile, occupy the last two spots in the women's standings, the former sliding down the ladder after suffering two Classical defeats on the trot, the second one against China's Zhu Jiner on Thursday.