Norway Chess is an annual closed

chess tournament A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition amo ...

, typically taking place in the May to June time period every year. The first edition took place in the

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

area,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, from 7 May to 18 May 2013. The 2013 tournament had ten participants, including seven of the ten highest rated players in the world per the May 2013

FIDE World Rankings The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes the lists "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors" and "Top 100 Girls" rankings of countries according to the average rating ...

. It was won by

Sergey Karjakin Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, . (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (formerly representing Ukraine). A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, (until it was eventually taken b ...

, with

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 ...

and

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraGrand Chess Tour The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is a circuit of chess tournaments where players compete for multiple prize pools. Major tournaments that have been featured in the Grand Chess Tour include Norway Chess, the Sinquefield Cup, and the London Chess Classic. ...

. The tournament has since decided to withdraw from the Grand Chess Tour.

Winners

2013

The 2013 tournament started with a

blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

round played at the

University of Stavanger The University of Stavanger (Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Stavanger,'' UiS) is a university located in Stavanger, Norway. UiS was established in 2005 when the former Stavanger University College (''Høgskolen i Stavanger''; HiS) received univer ...

on 7 May 2013. Rounds 1–8 were played at Hotel Residence,

Sandnes Sandnes () is a city and municipality in Rogaland, Norway. It lies immediately south of Stavanger, the 4th largest city in Norway and together, the Stavanger/Sandnes area is the third-largest urban area in Norway. The urban city of Sandnes lies ...

(rounds 1–3, 5–6, 8), at Aarbakke factory in

Bryne Bryne () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Time, Norway, Time municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality of Time and it is also List of urban areas in Norway by population, o ...

(round 4) and on the island Sør-Hidle in

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline *Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa *Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street, ...

(round 7). The final round 9 was played in

Stavanger Concert Hall Stavanger Konserthus or ''Stavanger Concert Hall'' is a concert hall in Stavanger, Norway. It was officially opened by Crown Prince Haakon on 15 September 2012. The financing of the building was shared by the municipality of Stavanger, the county ...

on 18 May 2013. In addition to the super tournament, there was a local school tournament and a celebrity tournament. Partly parallel to the tournament, Stavanger Open NGP 2013 was arranged by Stavanger Chess Club from 8 to 12 May. Games were streamed live with

Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam Diederik Johan Mathijs "Dirk" ten Geuzendam (born January 11, 1957) is a Dutch chess writer, commentator and organizer. He is the editor-in-chief of New In Chess, an international chess magazine with readers in 116 countries. Ten Geuzendam gradu ...

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 ...

as commentators. The tournament was arranged by the foundation Norway Chess, with economic support from local businesses and municipalities and the

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

county. The cost of the arrangement was predicted to be about 5 million

Norwegian kroner The krone (, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''øre ...

(approximately 672,000

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

), of which about half is for the prizes for the participants.Øyvind Brenne
Carlsen blir trekkplaster i storturnering på norsk jord
VG, 7 February 2013 The organizers plan to make the tournament a yearly event.

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Cha ...

was originally among the expected participants, but in April 2013 it was announced that he had withdrawn and was replaced with

Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (russian: Пётр Вениами́нович Сви́длер; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian chess grandmaster and an eight-time Russian Chess Champion who now frequently commenta ...

Blitz tournament

On 7 May 2013, a blitz tournament was played to decide the play order for the main tournament. According to regulations, the winner of the blitz tournament had the right to choose the number in the table by his own, and

chose to be fifth in the main tournament table.Chess-news.ru: Sergey Karjakin Won the Blitz tournament and Chose to Be Fifth in the Table
/ref> : Second, third and fourth place were decided by tiebreakers: Carlsen on most games with black pieces; Anand with two victories with black against Nakamura's one victory.

Classical tournament

: The

tiebreaker In games and sports, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is used to determine a winner from among players or teams that are tied at the end of a contest, or a set of contests. General operation In matches In some situations, the tiebreaker may consi ...

s were: Sonneborn-Berger score, most wins, most wins with black.Norway Chess 2013: Standings
/ref> In case of a tie for the first place, a two-game blitz match (or blitz tournament) and an armageddon game were scheduled.

2014

The second edition took place from 2 to 13 June 2014. The ten participants were

Levon Aronian Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenians, Armenian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A ches ...

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; bg, Весели́н Александров Топа́лов; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chess International Grandmaster, grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champ ...

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United Sta ...

Alexander Grischuk Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015). He has competed in five Candidates T ...

Anish Giri Anish Kumar Giri ( ne, अनीश कुमार गिरी; russian: Аниш Кумар Гири; born 28 June 1994) is a Russian-born Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the title Grandmaster at t ...

and

. Agdestein qualified by defeating

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 ...

in a rapid match that took place from 26 to 27 April 2014.

Blitz tournament

On 2 June 2014, a blitz tournament was played to decide the play order for the main tournament. : The places 3, 4, 7 and 8 were decided by tiebreakers: Karjakin on most games with black pieces, Kramnik with one victory with black against Caruana's zero victory.

Classical tournament

: The

s were: Sonneborn-Berger score, most wins, most wins with black.Norway Chess 2014: Standings
/ref> In case of a tie for the first place, a two-game blitz match (or blitz tournament) and an armageddon game were scheduled.

2015

The third edition of the tournament took place from 15 to 26 June 2015. This was the first tournament of a three tournament series in the inaugural

Grand Chess Tour The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is a circuit of chess tournaments where players compete for multiple prize pools. Major tournaments that have been featured in the Grand Chess Tour include Norway Chess, the Sinquefield Cup, and the London Chess Classic. ...

, where participants accumulate as many points as possible over the three tournaments for prizes in the overall tour. The players were

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraFabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United Sta ...

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (; born 21 October 1990), often referred to by his initials, MVL, is a French chess grandmaster who is the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2819, Vachier-Lagrave is the seventh-highest r ...

, and

. Jon Ludvig Hammer was not invited to the overall Grand Chess Tour; however, he qualified for the 10th spot in the tournament by winning the Enter Card Scandinavian Masters Tournament in May 2015.

Blitz tournament

On 15 June 2015, a blitz tournament was played to decide the play order for the main tournament. It was won by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. :

Classical tournament

: The tiebreakers were: most wins, direct encounter, Sonneborn-Berger system, extended Koya system.

2016

The fourth Norway Chess Tournament took place from 18 to 30 April 2016 with a new title sponsor,

Altibox Altibox is a unified brand name for Broadband, IPTV and VoIP services distributed in Norway and Denmark with over 35 local Norwegian and 6 Danish FTTH networks. Altibox was set up by Southwestern Norwegian multi-utility firm Lyse Energi Lyse ( ...

. The tournament withdrew from the

in early January 2016 citing differences on the future of chess supertournaments and tournament sponsorship. The players were initially announced as

Pavel Eljanov Pavel Eljanov ( uk, Павло Володимирович Ельянов, translit=Pavlo Volodymyrovych Elyanov; born 10 May 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He has won two team gold medals and one individual silver medal at the Chess Oly ...

Pentala Harikrishna Pentala Harikrishna (born 10 May 1986) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He became the youngest grandmaster from India after attaining the title in 2001, a record now held by Gukesh D. He was Commonwealth Champion in 2001, World Junior ...

, and a wildcard to be determined in a qualifying tournament. On 6 April, Karjakin decided not to play in the tournament. His spot was taken by Li Chao.

Wild card qualifier

A qualifying tournament took place from 23 to 26 March 2016. It was a double round robin consisting of two stages: the first leg was played with a classical time control and 3–1–0 scoring system; the second leg was played with a rapid time control and 2–1–0 scoring system. It was won by

Nils Grandelius Nils Axel Grandelius (born 3 June 1993 in Lund, Sweden) is a Swedish chess grandmaster. He is the top ranked player of Sweden. Chess career FIDE awarded him the titles FIDE Master, in 2007, International Master, in 2008, and Grandmaster in 20 ...

. : : :

Blitz tournament

On 18 April 2016, a blitz tournament was conducted to determine the pairings in the tournament. The top 5 finishers in the blitz tournament earned an extra white game in the tournament. The following is the final crosstable of the event (obtained from chess.com).

, and

finished in the top 5 and, thus, earned their extra white game. :

Classical tournament

2017

The fifth Norway Chess tournament was held between 6–16 June 2017. The tournament involved all ten of the world's best players by rating (at the time of announcement) and had an average Elo rating of 2797. As a result, it was billed as the strongest chess tournament in history by

, its sponsor. However, by the time the tournament was held two players had dropped out of the top ten (Karjakin and Giri; their replacements Mamedyarov and Ding Liren did not play). It is also not the tournament with the highest-ever rating average; the 2014 Zurich Chess Challenge and the 2014 Sinquefield Cup had average ratings of 2801 and 2802, respectively.

Blitz tournament

On 5 June 2017, a Blitz tournament was conducted to determine the pairings in the tournament. The top 5 finishers in the blitz tournament earned an extra white game in the tournament.

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraLevon Aronian Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenians, Armenian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A ches ...

and

finished in the top 5 and earned their extra white game. :

Classical tournament

2018

Blitz tournament

The blitz tournament was played on 27 May 2018. The winner of the blitz tournament chose his number in the main tournament. Number 2 got the highest available number, and number 3 the second highest, and so on. :

Classical tournament

: On 31 May 2018,

Ding Liren Ding Liren (; born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachi ...

fractured his hip bone in a bicycle accident and underwent surgery the next morning. It was announced on 2 June that Ding had withdrawn from the tournament. Due to him having played less than half the rounds, the three draws (against Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave and Anand) that he had played in rounds 1–3 were discounted for tournament purposes, and counted only for rating purposes.

2019

Blitz tournament

Classical tournament

The tournament regulations for the classical tournament were different than other tournaments. Players were awarded 2 points for a win, and 0 points for a loss. In the case of draws, the players would move on to an Armageddon game, with 10 minutes for White and 7 minutes for Black, with Black having draw odds. Players were awarded 1½ points for a draw and an Armageddon win, and ½ points for a draw and an Armageddon loss. :

2020

The performance rating is based on classical games only. As with 2019, an Armageddon game was to follow if the main classical game ended in a draw. The points system was altered to award 3 points for a win, 0 points for a loss, 1½ for a draw and an Armageddon win and 1 for a draw and an Armageddon loss. :

2021

2022

Blitz tournament

Classical tournament

Seeding was based on a blitz tournament played before the classical event. A classical win was worth 3 points and a loss 0 points. If the classical game was drawn, an

armageddon According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon (, from grc, Ἁρμαγεδών ''Harmagedōn'', Late Latin: , from Hebrew: ''Har Məgīddō'') is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies ...

game was played, with the same colours as the classical game. The player who won the armageddon game received 1½ points and the loser 1 point. :

References

External links

* {{Chess tournaments Chess competitions Chess in Norway Sport in Stavanger International sports competitions hosted by Norway Recurring sporting events established in 2013 2013 establishments in Norway