Praggnanandhaa pulled off the upset everyone wanted to see. He beat Carlsen in round three at Norway Chess, the only classical decision of the day. It was a wild game, the kind that swings back and forth before one side cracks. Pragg took his chance and didn't let it slip.
Firouzja stays in front. He needed Armageddon to get past Gukesh, but he got it. Wesley So also went to blitz to beat Keymer. The tiebreaker results matter because classical draws have become the norm at this level. When someone converts a full game into a win, it moves the needle.
Carlsen is struggling. Two classical losses in three rounds puts him last in the standings. That's the brutal math of round-robin chess. You fall behind fast if you keep losing, and there's no recovery mechanism except beating the field in the remaining rounds. For a player of his pedigree, this is a low point in the tournament.
The gap between first and last is growing. Firouzja holds the lead with his Armageddon wins translating into points. Carlsen needs to stabilize immediately or this becomes a real collapse. Norway Chess punishes carelessness, and Carlsen has been careless twice.