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On Saturday, June 1, the Indian grandmaster, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, stunned the world number two, Fabiano Caruana, in the fifth round of the Norway Chess 2024 at the SR-Bank's main building in Stavanger. With this big win against the American, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa entered the world’s top 10 in classical chess in FIDE’s live ratings.
After beating the world number one, Magnus Carlsen, in his home tournament called the Norway Chess 2024, Rameshbabu Praggnanadhaa kept the momentum going in the fifth round clash against Fabiano Caruana. In a draw position in theoretical terms, Caruana had a massive blunder on move 66, allowing Praggnanadhaa to get the better of him in the pawn-knight endgame.
Hikaru Nakamura, who is also playing quite impressively in the tournament, spoke on the live broadcast about how his fellow American Fabiano Caruana makes blunders when you least expect him. Nakamura remarked, “He (Caruana) makes more of these blunders when he gets low on time than other top players.”
Moreover, after defeating Ding Liren, the world chess champion, with relative ease in the fifth round of the Norway Chess 2024, Hikaru Nakamura spoke about having fun while playing chess. He is currently leading the tournament standings with 10 points, one more than the home favourite Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is in third place in Norway Chess 2024 after five rounds of action with 8.5 points, a solid two-point lead over the fourth place Frenchman Alireza Firouzja.
