Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal (born 14 May 1993) is a Norwegian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player. He holds the title of Grandmaster, and is the 2012 and 2014 Norwegian champion. Urkedal began playing chess as an after-school activity at his school at

Kjelsås Kjelsås, sometimes called Kjelsaas, is one of the northern neighbourhoods of Oslo situated in Nordre Aker, the northern borough of Oslo, Norway. History Together with Grefsen, Kjelsås was part of the borough ''Grefsen-Kjelsås'' until Janu ...

, in northern Oslo. Urkedal won each of the age-restricted classes of the Norwegian championship in successive years from 2003 to 2006. In 2003 he won the ''Miniputt'' class with 8½ points out of 9, in 2004 he scored 6½ points in the ''Lilleputt'' class together with five other players but won the group due to his superior tiebreak score, in 2005 he won the Cadet class outright with 7½ points, and in 2006 he won the Junior championship after tying for first with 6½ points with three other players before winning the play-off for the junior title. In the 2009

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cade ...

s, Urkedal finished in fifth place in the under-16 section scoring 8 points out of 11. This was Norway's second best result in the youth championship, only

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

's second place in the under-12 section in 2002 surpassed this. Urkedal achieved the title of

FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating an ...

in 2008. In January 2011 his performance in the Rilton Cup tournament in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

secured him the final

norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envir ...

needed for the title of

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

. In the 2012

Norwegian Chess Championship The Norwegian Chess Championship (NM i sjakk) is an annual tournament held in Norway during the month of July, in order to determine the national chess champion. The tournament is held at different venues each year as part of the ''Landsturnering' ...

, held in July in

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

, Urkedal scored 7 points out of 9. He drew the pre-tournament favorites

Jon Ludvig Hammer Jon Ludvig Nilssen Hammer (born 2 June 1990) is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and three-time Norwegian Chess Champion. He was the main second for Magnus Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2013. Chess career At the 38t ...

and

Simen Agdestein Simen Agdestein (born 15 May 1967) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster, chess coach, author, and former professional footballer as a striker for the Norway national football team. Agdestein won eight Norwegian Chess Championships between 1982 an ...

, and lost only to Espen Lie. Urkedal won the rest of his games, including a win over the defending champion

Berge Østenstad Berge Østenstad (born 15 September 1964) is a Norwegian chess player and Norway's sixth International Grandmaster. Østenstad plays for the chess club in Asker. He appears on the official FIDE rating list as "Ostenstad, Berge". , Østenstad has ...

in round 8. This result tied him for first with Espen Lie, and a play-off was arranged in

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 15 ...

in October to determine the champion. Urkedal won the first game, and was able to hold a draw from a shaky position in the second, thus securing him the title. Urkedal became the seventh teenager to accomplish this feat. Urkedal was awarded the title of Grandmaster in April 2016, having scored his final grandmaster norm at the Manacor tournament in Mallorca. In 2019 he won the

Nordic Chess Championship The Nordic Chess Championship (''Nordiska Schackkongressen'') is a biennal chess tournament which determines the champion of the Nordic countries. The first edition took place in Stockholm in 1897. History The winners in the Nordic Championship in ...

and thanks to this victory Urkedal qualified to the

FIDE World Cup The FIDE World Cup refers to three different events over the years. Since 2000, it has been a major chess event organized by FIDE, the International Chess Federation. Since 2005, it has been a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, formi ...

. In 2019, he achieved 2nd place in the Australasian Masters GM tournament. Urkedal played for Norway in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

in 2010 and 2012. He represents the chess club SK 1911 of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urkedal, Frode Olav Olsen 1993 births Living people Chess grandmasters Norwegian chess players Sportspeople from Oslo