Norway Chess 2026 was the 14th edition of the annual chess tournament, held for the first time in Oslo. It was held from 25 May to 5 June 2026. The field of six players featured world number one Magnus Carlsen, world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Vincent Keymer, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So and R Praggnanandhaa. The third edition of the Norway Chess Women was also held simultaneously, featuring women's world champion Ju Wenjun. Carlsen and Anna Muzychuk were the defending champions.
The Open Section was won by R Praggnanandhaa. Bibisara Assaubayeva won the women's section with a round to spare.
Organization Like in previous editions, Norway Chess 2026 featured a unique system wherein players played an armageddon game in case the classical game was drawn.
The time control for the classical games was 120 minutes for the entire game, with an increment of 10 seconds starting from move 41. For the armageddon games, white got 10 minutes while black gets 7 minutes but had draw odds. Players got 3 points for a classical win, 1½ points for an armageddon win, 1 point for an armageddon loss and 0 points for a classical loss.
Participants Open PlayerRatingRankingMay 2026 Magnus Carlsen28401 Vincent Keymer27597 Alireza Firouzja27598 Wesley So27549 R Praggnanandhaa273317 Gukesh Dommaraju273219 Women PlayerRatingRankingMay 2026 Ju Wenjun25593 Zhu Jiner25464 Humpy Koneru25356 Bibisara Assaubayeva25277 Anna Muzychuk25228 Divya Deshmukh250012
Standings Open Section +14th Norway Chess, 25 May – 5 June 2026, Oslo, Norway, Category XXI (2762.8)PlayerRating123456Points 12733 1½ 0 3 0 3 3 3 1½ 0 3 18 22754 3 1 1½ 1½ 1½ 3 1½ 1½ 1½ 1 17 32759 3 0 1 1 3 0 1½ 1½ 3 1½ 15½ 42840 0 0 0 1 3 0 1½ 1½ 3 3 13 52759 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 11 62732 0 3 1½ 1 1 0 0 0 1½ 0 8
Women's Section +3rd Norway Chess Women, 25 May – 5 June 2026, Oslo, Norway, Category XII (2531.5)PlayerRating123456Points 12527 3 1½ 1 1 1½ 0 1 3 1½ 3 16½ 22546 1 0 1½ 1½ 3 1½ 0 3 3 1½ 16 32522 1½ 1½ 1 1 1½ 1½ 3 1½ 1 1½ 15 42559 3 1 1 0 1 1 1 3 1 1½ 13½ 52500 0 1½ 0 3 1 0 0 1½ 1½ 1½ 10 62535 0 1 1 0 1 1½ 1 1½ 1 1 9
Summary The tournament is notable for both Carlsen's and Gukesh's relative underperformances. For the first time in three years, Carlsen finished a classical tournament with more losses than wins, costing him 18 rating points and putting him at his lowest rating since 2017. Gukesh finished in last place, becoming his lowest classical round-robin performance since becoming World Champion. Also notable is the quick recovery of Alireza Firouzja, who, due to a foot injury, had to withdraw from GCT Romania only days before Norway. Despite this, Alireza won his first two games, and finished the tournament in 3rd. After 6 rounds, Praggnanandhaa was on 6th place, 5½ points behind 1st place Wesley So but made an "impossible" comeback with 4 consecutive Classical wins.
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