Alireza Firouzja has taken a three-and-a-half-point lead at the Norway Chess tournament, winning two games in two rounds, including one against Magnus Carlsen. Despite being confined to a cast due to an injury, Firouzja's coach, Ivan Cheparinov, believes the confinement is helping him focus.
In Round 1, Carlsen went from a good position to a defeat against the Iranian-French grandmaster. Praggnanandhaa also lost to Firouzja, provoking a Queen exchange and finding himself in an uncomfortable endgame.
In the women's section, Divya Deshmukh is just a step behind Bibisara Assaubayeva in the standings, winning both her Armageddon games. Gukesh's game went into an Armageddon for the second day in a row, this time against American GM Wesley So, who won the opening contest and the battle.
Cheparinov believes that Firouzja may not have the killer instinct required to become a world champion, citing his lack of burning ambition. Firouzja broke Carlsen's record as the youngest player to reach the 2800 Elo mark by five months but has not had a great performance in Candidates tournaments.
Cheparinov has witnessed the evolution of chess preparation and believes that mental work is more important than the chess part. He thinks Firouzja is very strong mentally but may be too confident at times.
