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Norway Chess

Norway Chess is annual closed chess tournament, typically taking place in the May to June time period every year. The first edition of which took place in the Stavanger area, Norway, 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. It was won by Sergey Karjakin, with Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura tied for the second place. The latest Norway Chess Tournament, Norway Chess 2015, took place in mid-June 2015 and was a part of the inaugural Grand Chess Tour. The tournament has since decided to withdraw from the Grand Chess Tour.

Norway Chess 2013

The 2013 tournament started with a blitz round played at the University of Stavanger on 7 May 2013. Rounds 1-8 were played at Hotel Residence, Sandnes (rounds 1-3, 5-6, 8), at Aarbakke factory in Bryne (round 4) and on the island Sør-Hidle in Strand (round 7). The final round 9 was played in Stavanger Concert Hall 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. Matches were streamed live with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam and Simen Agdestein as commentators.

The tournament was arranged by the foundation Norway Chess, with economic support from local businesses and municipalities and the Rogaland county. The cost of the arrangement was predicted to be about 5 million Norwegian kroner (approximately 672,000 euro), of which about half is for the prizes for the participants. The organizers plan to make the tournament a yearly event.

Vladimir Kramnik was originally among the expected participants, but in April 2013 it was announced that he had withdrawn and was replaced with Peter Svidler.

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 Sergey Karjakin chose to be fifth in the main tournament table.

Pl. Player Blitz rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points
1 Sergey Karjakin (Russia) 2873 X 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 6.5
2 Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 2856 0 X ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 6
3 Viswanathan Anand (India) 2783 1 ½ X 0 1 1 0 1 1 ½ 6
4 Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2844 0 0 1 X ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 6
5 Peter Svidler (Russia) 2757 1 0 0 ½ X 1 1 0 1 1 5.5
6 Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 2755 0 1 0 ½ 0 X ½ 1 1 1 5
7 Jon Ludvig Hammer (Norway) 2608 0 0 1 0 0 ½ X 1 ½ ½ 3.5
8 Wang Hao (China) 2698 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 0 X ½ 1 3
9 Levon Aronian (Armenia) 2817 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ X 1 2.5
10 Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) 2666 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 X 1

The places 2, 3 and 4 were decided by tiebreakers: Carlsen on most games with black pieces, Anand with two victories with black against Nakamura's one victory.

Results

Pl. Player Rating (No.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points SB
1 Sergey Karjakin (Russia) 2767 (10) X 0 1 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 6 24.00
2 Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 2868 (1) 1 X ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 5.5 22.75
3 Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2775 (7) 0 ½ X ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 5.5 21.25
4 Peter Svidler (Russia) 2769 (9) 1 ½ ½ X ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 5 21.50
5 Levon Aronian (Armenia) 2813 (2) 0 ½ 1 ½ X ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5 20.50
6 Viswanathan Anand (India) 2783 (5) ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ X 0 1 1 1 5 19.25
7 Wang Hao (China) 2743 (16) 0 1 0 1 ½ 1 X ½ ½ 0 4.5 21.50
8 Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) 2793 (4) ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ X ½ ½ 4 18.00
9 Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 2745 (14) 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ X 1 3 10.75
10 Jon Ludvig Hammer (Norway) 2608 (197) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 X 1.5 6.50

The tiebreakers were: Sonneborn-Berger score, most wins, most wins with black. In case of a tie for the first place, a two-game blitz match (or blitz tournament) and an armageddon game were scheduled.

Norway Chess 2014

Second tournament took place from 2 to 13 June 2014. The ten participants were Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, Anish Giri and Simen Agdestein. Agdestein qualified by defeating Jon Ludvig Hammer 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.

Pl. Player Blitz rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points
1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 2837 X ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 7.5
2 Levon Aronian (Armenia) 2863 ½ X 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 6.5
3 Sergey Karjakin (Russia) 2866 0 1 X 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 5.5
4 Alexander Grischuk (Russia) 2801 ½ ½ 1 X ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ 5.5
5 Peter Svidler (Russia) 2757 0 0 ½ ½ X 1 0 1 1 1 5
6 Anish Giri (Netherlands) 2755 0 0 1 1 0 X 1 0 ½ 1 4.5
7 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) 2782 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 X ½ ½ 1 3.5
8 Fabiano Caruana (Italy) 2697 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ X ½ 1 3.5
9 Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) 2666 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ X 0 2
10 Simen Agdestein (Norway) 2577 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 1 X 1.5

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.

Results

Pl. Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points SB
1 Sergey Karjakin (Russia) 2771 X ½ 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 6 26.25
2 Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 2881 ½ X ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 5.5 23.50
3 Alexander Grischuk (Russia) 2792 0 ½ X 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 5 21.00
4 Fabiano Caruana (Italy) 2791 0 ½ 1 X ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 4.5 19.75
5 Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) 2772 ½ ½ 0 ½ X ½ ½ 0 1 1 4.5 19.50
6 Levon Aronian (Armenia) 2815 1 0 0 ½ ½ X ½ ½ ½ ½ 4 18.25
7 Peter Svidler (Russia) 2753 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ X ½ ½ ½ 4 18.25
8 Anish Giri (Netherlands) 2752 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ X 0 ½ 4 17.75
9 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) 2783 0 ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 X ½ 4 17.00
10 Simen Agdestein (Norway) 2628 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ X 3.5 15.75

The tiebreakers were: Sonneborn-Berger score, most wins, most wins with black. In case of a tie for the first place, a two-game blitz match (or blitz tournament) and an armageddon game were scheduled.

Norway Chess 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, where participants accumulate as many points as possible over the three tournaments for prizes in the overall tour. The players were Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Grischuk, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Jon Ludvig Hammer. 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.

Results

Pl. Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points TPR
1 Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) 2798 X ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 6.5 2946
2 Viswanathan Anand (India) 2804 ½ X ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 6.0 2899
3 Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2802 ½ ½ X ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6.0 2900
4 Anish Giri (Netherlands) 2773 1 ½ ½ X ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 5.5 2861
5 Fabiano Caruana (Italy) 2805 ½ ½ 0 ½ X ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 4.0 2741
6 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) 2723 0 0 ½ ½ ½ X ½ ½ 1 ½ 4.0 2749
7 Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 2876 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ X 1 1 0 3.5 2693
8 Alexander Grischuk (Russia) 2781 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 X ½ 1 3.5 2704
9 Levon Aronian (Armenia) 2780 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ X ½ 3.0 2662
10 Jon Ludvig Hammer (Norway) 2677 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ X 3.0 2674

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

Norway Chess 2016

The Norway Chess Tournament is slated to continue in 2016; however, it withdrew from the Grand Chess Tour in early-January 2016 citing differences on the future of chess supertournaments and tournament sponsorship.

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