Fabiano Caruana beat compatriot Wesley So of the United States and padded his lead ahead of his closest pursuers going into the crucial last round of the elite 2023 Norway Chess championship Thursday in Stavenger, Norway.

Caruana drew with So in the classical Nimzovitch game and won in the Armageddon tiebreak. He gained 1.5 points and a shaky 2.5 points lead ahead of another American, Hikaru Nakamura.

Nakamura lost with the black side of a Berlin Ruy Lopez to teen Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the Armageddon tiebreak. The loser of the Armageddon match gained only one point.

Nakamura needs to defeat Caruana in the last round, as the 35-year-old Japan-born speed chess expert aims to snatch the crown via the backdoor. Nakamura handles the white pieces against Caruana, who needs only a draw to clinch the title outright.

Dommaraju Gukesh of India, the youngest participant at 17, crushed the Indian defense of local hero Aryan Tari and gained three points in the classical game.

He moved up to solo third and is within three points behind Caruana at 13 points.

Gukesh plays the black pieces in a riveting matchup against So, who at 29 years old, is considered a veteran in elite level wars.

So blew his chances of catching up with the leaders as he lost in 57 moves of a Queen's Gambit Declined game and dropped to a share of fourth and fifth with Anish Giri of the Netherlands. They have identical 11.5 points.

Giri, also a "young" veteran at 28, beat erstwhile world No. 2 Alireza Firouzja of France, 19, in the Armageddon.

Firouzja dropped further in a tie for sixth and seventh places with former world champion Magnus Carlsen at 10.5 points.

Carlsen, who still has to win a classical game, beat Azeri Shakriyar Mamedyarov in another tiebreaker.