Bengaluru, June 7 -- Less than a week ago, R Praggnanandhaa would have wanted to wipe the Norway Chess championship from memory. He was at the bottom of the standings, with little hope of a turnaround. But then, the 20-year-old Indian grandmaster conjured up a turnaround for the ages. He reeled off four straight classical victories - a stunning streak by any standards. And in that blitzkrieg, he scalped wins over world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen (on his home turf) and reigning world champion D Gukesh. Days later, the tables had turned. Praggnanandhaa stared down from the top of the standings. On Friday, Praggnanandhaa ended Vincent Keymer's unbeaten classical run in the tournament to snatch the Norway Chess title, capping a historic reversal and becoming the first Indian to win the prestigious event. Going into the final round, it was a battle between Wesley So, Alireza Firouzja and Praggnanandhaa for the Norway Chess crown. The Indian GM trailed leader So by half a point, but the latter's failure to win his final-round classical game against Firouzja meant Praggnanandhaa's classical win over Keymer secured him the title. This turned out to be a rare tournament in which Carlsen, who finished fourth with four classical losses, did not have a great outing. "Doing it in a tournament with Magnus, also doing it in this style by winning four games in a row, is definitely special. I'm super happy," Praggnanandhaa said. "I was speaking to my mother on June 1, before the Alireza game, and she was telling me, 'It's a new month, you'll play well!' It's just one of those things that mum always says, and then these four games I won. She knew something, I guess!" Asked what changed after Round 6, Praggnanandhaa told Chessbase India: "Nothing changed actually. Maybe a conscious effort to play faster. I think that certainly helped. I don't think I got down to seconds in any of the games. I was always having more time than my opponent." His second, Vaibhav Suri, beamed with pride. "The opposition it happened against was incredible. Everyone was 2,760-plus and a win over Magnus with the Black pieces. You don't get to see this often. Pragg played exceptionally well. Extremely elated at how it all transpired because after round six he was at the bottom and then he scored so many wins to finish at the top. That too, without a tiebreak. It really is something." So, who was in the lead until the final round and in the running to win the event, gushed at Praggnanandhaa's incredulous show. "Five days ago, I would give a 0.1% chance that he would win four in a row, but it happened, it's crazy! I'm not sure how I could have done it better. I think I've gotten the maximum points I could get from this tournament, and there's nothing really Firouzja and I could do. I guess I could go crazy in the last game, but that's just not who I am." Describing Praggnanandhaa as an "incredible fighter", Carlsen was effusive in his praise after learning of the Indian GM's tournament victory. "That's pretty insane! That's as clutch as it gets, and it just shows that it would have been possible for me as well with a similar finish. But yeah, that's incredible. It shows you the volatility of the system, and he is an incredible fighter. It's fun to see him get rewarded for that," the five-time world champion said. It has been a tough year for Praggnanandhaa, who had an underwhelming Candidates run. He has spoken of his sister Vaishali's Women's Candidates win helping him process the agony. While Norway Chess had one Indian finish on top, the other Indian in the fray finished at the bottom. In the final round, Carlsen defeated Gukesh in classical - for the second time in the tournament - to hand him a last-place finish. In a year that will see him defending his world title, Gukesh currently finds himself outside the top 25 in the live rating list after his rough run in this tournament, which saw him lose 14.8 rating points. In the women's section, the tournament champion was decided a day early. Kazakh GM Bibisara Assaubayeva won with a round to spare. On Friday, Zhu Jiner ensured second place with a win over Koneru Humpy while Anna Muzychuk finished third by beating Divya Deshmukh. The Indian GMs finished in the bottom two spots....