American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura broke world champion Dommaraju Gukesh’s run of classical wins by comprehensively beating the Indian to earn three full points even as Arjun Erigaisi roared back to contention with victory over Fabiano Caruana in Norway Chess here.

India’s Erigaisi trapped his opponent Caruana in a time scramble in the eighth round of the tournament on Tuesday.

World No. 2 and former Norway Chess champion Nakamura pressed home the early advantage he got with the white pieces to dominate his 19-year-old opponent and score a “very smooth” victory and take revenge for his Round III loss to the Indian.

Gukesh, who had regained his mojo after a disappointing start to the tournament when he beat world No.1 Magnus Carlsen and Erigaisi in Rounds VI and VII, respectively, was cornered by Nakamura, who didn’t give his opponent an inch during the course of the nearly four-hour-long contest.

With two more rounds to go, Gukesh was tied for third place with Nakamura on 11.5 points, while American GM Caruana, despite the loss to Erigaisi, was in the lead with 12.5 points.

Carlsen, who lost to China’s Wei Yi in the Armageddon tie-break, was second with 12 points, while Erigaisi was fifth with 10.5 points.

“It was a very smooth game,” said Nakamura after the win.

The 37-year-old Nakamura, winner of the 2023 edition of Norway Chess in which Gukesh finished third, said that the reigning world champion was uncomfortable with the pawn structure, which probably resulted in him coming under time pressure and giving an easy win to the American.

“I’m not sure what happened, whether Gukesh just didn’t know this bishop g6 move, or what exactly it was, but it was very clear to me that, based on the long think, he didn’t like the pawn structure at all,” said Nakamura, who at 15 years of age had become the youngest American GM.

Nakamura added that his loss to Gukesh in Round III was more on account of him “slackening” a bit.

“Just when I had equalised, I completely relaxed. I just fell asleep for like one to two moves, and immediately, I was in a lot of trouble, and I couldn’t recover,” he added.

Humpy in lead

Among women, two-time world rapid champion, India’s Koneru Humpy, wrested back the lead with two rounds to go, beating Spanish IM Sara Khadem in the day’s only classical win.

Humpy, on 13.5 points, was one point ahead of world champion China’s Ju Wenjun. Ju’s six-match winning streak was broken by R. Vaishali, who is fifth on 9.5 points, in the Armageddon tie-break.

PTI