Hikaru Nakamura halted World Champion D Gukesh in an exciting turn of events in the eighth round at the Norway Chess tournament on Wednesday.

Gukesh’s loss to Hikaru led to a major shift in the leaderboard as the Indian dropped two places to be fourth.

Fabiano Caruana (12.5 points) and Magnus Carlsen (12 points) remain at the top despite losing their respective encounters.

India’s Arjun Erigaisi got the better of Fabiano, while Wei Yi beat Carlsen. This was Erigaisi’s second clear win of the tournament.

Hikaru ended his five-game winless streak and is now third with 11.5 points. Gukesh stumbled in the middlegame, misjudging a crucial pawn structure that allowed his opponent to seize the advantage.

Magnus and Fabiano will face off in a highly anticipated Round 9 matchup. Gukesh will take on Wei and Fabiano in the remaining two rounds.

Vaishali’s first win over Ju

In the Women’s tournament, Koneru Humpy regained the sole lead after a crucial classical win over Sara Khademalsharieh.

The experienced Indian grandmaster beat Sara for a second time in the event and now has 13.5 points. Humpy is closely followed by Anna Muzychuk (12.5 points), who got the better of Lei Tingjie.

Another Indian in fray, Vaishali Rameshbabu, registered her first-ever win over world champion Ju Wenjun in the tiebreaker after a short classical draw.

Vaishali, playing with white, advanced on the kingside and found the right moment to break open the position in the Armageddon game.

With two more rounds to go, players will be in the fray for the top spot when action resumes on Thursday. Humpy is set to face both Lei and Ju in the final two rounds.

Results

Open: Arjun Erigaisi beat Fabiano Caraa; Wei Yi beat Magnus Carlsen; Nakamura beat D Gukesh.

Women: Konru Humpy beat Sarasadat Khadesalshariah; Anna Musychkk beat Leny Tingjie; Vaisally Rameshbabu beat Ju Wedon.