Stavanger (Norway), June 27: Champions do not do different things. They do things differently. This popular line seems to be true with several sportspersons, who enjoy the big stages and excel at tougher situations.
India is blessed to have so many young chess talents. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu is one of the bright prospects amongst them. He gave world's best player Magnus Carlsen a tough fight last year. He is again to eager to face Carlsen with more determination and better strategy.
Praggnanandhaa will be in focus as the prestigious 12th edition of the Norway Chess championship gets underway in Stavanger, Norway. The event features some of the world’s top players in both Norway Chess and the first-ever Norway Chess Women’s Tournament introduced to ensure equal participation.
Host nation’s World No.1 and five-time World Champion Carlsen will lead the men’s field along with reigning World Champion Ding Liren of China and World No.2 and 3 Fabiana Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, both representing the USA, will also be in the fray.
Ranked 14th in the world, India’s young ace Praggnandhaa will be the lone Indian participant at the prestigious event. He will take on Alireza Firouzja of France in the opening match on Monday while his elder sister Vaishali Rameshbabu will take on reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun of China on the opening day of the Norway Chess Women’s Tournament.
World No.2 Koneru Humpy from India will also be in the fray, and she begins her campaign against Pia Cramling of Sweden.
Both the Norway Chess as well as Norway Chess Women’s Tournament carry equal prize money.
The event will be conducted in a double round-robin format. The event will be held over a time control of 120 minutes with an increment of 10 seconds after move 40. In Armageddon, the player with white gets 10 minutes while black has seven. After move 41, there is a 1-second increment.
Each classical win fetches three points while 1.5 points will be awarded for a win in Armageddon. One point will be awarded for an Armageddon loss.
Full list of participants at Norway Chess 2024:
Men's category:
1. Magnus Carlsen (Norway), 2830, World No. 1
2. Fabiano Caruana (USA), 2804, World No. 2
3. Hikaru Nakamura (USA), 2788, World No. 3
4. World Champion Ding Liren (China), 2776, World No. 4
5. Alireza Firouzja (France), 2765, World No. 6
6. Praggnanandhaa R. (India), 2748, World No. 11
Women's Category: (ranking mentioned is in women's section):
1. Koneru Humpy (India), 2554, World No. 2
2. Lei Tingjie (China), 2550, World No. 4
3. Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun (China), 2547, World No. 5
4. Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine), 2525, World No. 7
5. Vaishali Rameshbabu (India), 2481, World No. 14
6. Pia Cramling (Sweden), 2437, World No. 31
Among the 12 participants, Praggnanandhaa, Koneru Humpy and Pragg's sister Vaishali Rameshbabu are the three Indians in the fray. Can any one of them, outsmart their competitors and emerge champion? India and Indians would certainly await that historic moment. Because after Viswanathan Anand, India has been waiting eagerly for its next chess world champion. (With IANS support)
