Norway Chess: Gukesh drops to last spot; Divya Deshmukh chasing title

World champion D Gukesh slipped down to the last place in the open standings at Norway Chess after being unable to convert his hefty advantage against American grandmaster Wesley So in their round 7 game on Monday. But the mystery of the Wesley So vs Gukesh game was why the American agreed to a draw on the 40th move when the Indian was down to barely a minute on his clock which meant he would have had to survive for the rest of the game on 10-second increments per move.

The good news for the Indian who just turned 20 is that even though he is last in the six-player standings, he’s just 4.5 points off the top of the table, which is currently occupied by So with 12.5 points. Just above Gukesh in fifth spot is compatriot R Praggnananddha, with nine points along with Vincent Keymer and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. Praggnananddha defeated Alireza Firouzja in their classical battle.

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After defeating Magnus Carlsen and R Praggnanandhaa in consecutive rounds in the classical portion, So had managed to escape severe pressure on the board from Gukesh before accepting the draw. He lost the Armageddon later to Gukesh.

So was a pawn down from as early as the 11th move in a game that started with the Italian. Gukesh held an edge on the board for most of the game.

In the Norway Chess Women, Divya Deshmukh finds herself in second spot in the standings, just 2.5 points behind Kazakh prodigy Bibisara Assaubayeva, who, like Deshmukh, is also making her debut at the tournament this year.

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Deshmukh, playing with black pieces, held a significant edge against compatriot Koneru Humpy as early as the 19th move. But that game too ended in a draw.

Humpy is at the bottom of the standings at Norway Chess Women after seven rounds.