World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway delivered a flawless performance on the final day to clinch the title in the Open section, while India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa finished runner-up at the Tata Steel Chess India rapid tournament on Friday.

In the women’s section, Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina maintained her consistent form to emerge triumphant with 7.5 points at
the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium here.

Carlsen, the overnight leader, defeated Germany’s Vincent Keymer — who celebrated his 20th birthday on Friday — in the seventh round.

The Norwegian followed it up with a victory against Daniil Dubov in the eighth round before concluding with a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the ninth.

Carlsen was in deep trouble against Abdusattorov but managed to wriggle out of a difficult position to earn a tough draw.

With an impressive total of 7.5 points out of nine, Carlsen clinched the title, finishing
two points ahead of his nearest competitors.

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa on Friday.

Carlsen (2837.5 points) increased the gap in rapid ratings between Ding Liren
of China (2776) to 61.5 rating points.

“Yesterday (Thursday) was one of the best days of chess I’ve had recently. One thing is to score 3/3, but I also felt the level of play was very high as well, so I’m very happy with that. The game against Arjun (Erigaisi), was very satisfying. He is an extremely dangerous player,” Carlsen said at the post-match news conference on Friday.

“And of course, 7.5/9 is a great score!” he added.

Carlsen accounted for Erigaisi in just 40 moves on Thursday.

Praggnanandhaa and Wesley So finished tied on 5.5 points, but the Indian’s superior tie-break score earned him the runner-up position, while So took the third spot.

In the women’s section, Goryachkina drew against India’s Koneru Humpy in the seventh round, before registering consecutive wins against Divya Deshmukh
and Valentina Gunina to secure her place at the top of
the podium.

Georgia’s Nana Dzagnidze secured the first runner-up position with 5.5 points, while India’s Vantika Agrawal delivered an inspiring performance to claim the second runner-up spot with five points.

All eyes are now on the blitz section of the tournament starting Saturday.