2 min learnOslo (norway)Jun 6, 2026 12:33 AM IST
India’s R Praggnanandhaa gained the Norway Chess 2026 title after a classical victory over German grandmaster Vincent Keymer within the remaining spherical on Saturday at Oslo’s Deichman Bjørvika. That is the 20-year-old prodigy’s first title of the 12 months.
Pragg had a exceptional remaining kick on the finish of the 10-round event, profitable 4 classical video games in a row after dropping two on the trot. The win over Keymer got here on the heels of Praggnanandhaa’s victories over Alireza Firouzja, world no 1 Magnus Carlsen and world champion Gukesh during the last 4 days. The event additionally noticed Praggnanandhaa full a double over Carlsen.
After his victory over Gukesh on Thursday, Praggnanandhaa had spoken about how he had clawed again from the underside of the desk to rise to a title struggle.
“I’m comfortable that I’m nonetheless within the race as a result of three days again I used to be combating for the final spot,” Praggnanandhaa had mentioned. “And now I’ve an opportunity at combating. So I’ll take it.”
The Gukesh victory specifically was one of many standout moments for Praggnanandhaa.
“Fairly proud about this sport (versus Gukesh) actually, as a result of that is how I often lose to him. He does some bizarre artistic stuff. I find yourself overthinking and someway doing one thing myself and dropping. I believed I managed my time nicely and I used to be additionally calculating nicely. So I believed it was sport general,” the 20-year-old mentioned in a post-game interview on Norway Chess’ official broadcast on Thursday.
Praggnanandhaa had additionally spoken about how he may have a lot better scores on this 12 months’s occasion.
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“I felt I performed nicely on this event There have been a few positions I may have most likely… even the sport towards Gukesh, once I was enjoying with white, I used to be simply profitable, I outplayed him after which I tousled in time hassle. So there have been few video games the place I may have transformed and will have had extra factors. I believed I used to be enjoying nicely. I simply needed to try to preserve a while in reserve,” mentioned Praggnanandhaa.
(The author is in Oslo on the invitation of Norway Chess)