Pentala Harikrishna and Veselin Topalov, who were having a quiet Norway Chess 2016 so far, scored their first wins by overcoming Li Chao and Nils Grandelius respectively. While Harikrishna’s win helped him get back to 50%, Topalov galloped to the joint-second spot on the leaderboard.
Harikrishna’s victory was an enterprising one. Just when it seemed Li Chao’s position was getting comfortable, Hari unleashed a couple of deadly blows on moves 24 and 25. After this, Li Chao found the going tough, with the game ending in a resounding victory for Hari on move 42.
Meanwhile, the central game of the day between Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri ended in a draw. As such, Carlsen is still in sole lead with 3.5/5, half a point ahead of Vachier-Lagrave, Topalov and Kramnik.
| Harikrishna | 1-0 | Li Chao |
| Topalov | 1-0 | Grandelius |
| Carlsen | ½-½ | Giri |
| Kramnik | ½-½ | Eljanov |
| Aronian | ½-½ | Vachier-Lagrave |