Sports Shorts: Harikrishna stuns Carlsen before four losses

Indian Grandmaster P Harikrishna pulled off a stunning win over world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway but suffered four losses later in the day to slip to overall sixth place in the St Louis Rapid and Blitz online chess tournament.

Harikrishna defeated world number one Carlsen in round three of Blitz 1 in 63 moves with white pieces. He also beat lower-rated American Jeffrey Xiong but save for the two wins, he had a forgettable day as he suffered four defeats, apart from three draws.

His losses were against Americans Leinier Dominiguez and Wesley, Alexander Grischuk of Russia and Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja.

Harikrishna shares the sixth place with Armenian GM Levon Aronian with 3.5 points after the nine rounds of Blitz 1.

Carlsen, who had dropped to second place behind So at the end of the Rapid event, leapt to the top spot in the standings with 18.5 points. He scored 6.5 points in the Blitz 1 despite defeats at the hands of Harikrishna and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia.

The tournament concludes with the Blitz-2 later on Saturday.

Standings after Blitz-1: 1. Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 18.5 points, 2. Wesley So (USA) 18, 3. Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 15, 4. Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 14.5, 6. P Harikrishna (IND) and Levon Aronian (ARM) 12.5, 8. Jeffery Xiong (USA) 11.5, 9. Leinier Dominiguez (USA) 9.5, 10. Alireza Firouzja (Iran) 8.5.

Bucks' Antetokounmpo named NBA's most valuable player for second straight year

Milwaukee Bucks power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the second straight year on Friday, becoming the first European player to win the award twice.

Antetokounmpo won by a landslide to beat Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James to the prize, receiving 85 of the 101 first-place votes from a global panel of sports writers and broadcasters. James received only 16.

The 25-year-old Greek powerhouse was also named the Defensive Player of the Year this month, joining Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan and Houston Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players to win both awards in the same season.

Antetokounmpo dominated this season averaging 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists in just 30.4 minute per game as the Bucks finished with a 56-17 record to top the Eastern Conference.

The Bucks were, however, eliminated in the Conference semi-finals by the Miami Heat who won the series 4-1.