Norway Chess 2026 started in a dramatic fashion with GM Alireza Firouzja’s first classical win in his career against world champion GM Magnus Carlsen. The French master remained cool and played skilfully, winning an astounding victory and three important points in the prestigious tournament.
World Champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju even had a heroic save during the first round of the D liked by playing his way out of a losing battle with Germany’s GM Vincent Keymer. Gukesh bounced back well after a chaotic classical game of 144 moves to win the armageddon tie-break and add 1.5 points from that game.
The grandmaster of India, GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, also played good classical cricket and came out winners against Wesley So in armageddon.
The women were more competitive, with GM Bibisara Assaubayeva taking the lead in an exciting classical battle after knocking out Indian talent GM Koneru Humpy. In between, GM Zhu Jiner downed the defending champion GM Anna Muzychuk in a corner of armageddon in her debut tournament in Norway.
Indian youngster GM Divya Deshmukh also impressed by defeating Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun in armageddon. After losing the classical game, Divya bounced back to win the tie-break.
Another competitive form of the event guarantees that the matches are still interesting. Players are given two hours on the clock (no increments until move 40), and this causes pressure to mount and frequently results in games becoming fast pace battles even though classical ratings are under threat. Three points are awarded for a classical win, and drawn games result in Armageddon, where an additional ½ point is available.
The prize fund is the same in the Open and Women’s tournaments, and the winners will win 700,000 NOK (around 76,000 USD). The Norway Chess 2026 competition’s next round starts on Tuesday at 8:30 pm IST.