Magnus Carlsen wins sixth Norway Chess title

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/9/2024 – Magnus Carlsen won the Norway Chess super-tournament for a sixth time in his career after beating Fabiano Caruana in their final-round Armageddon encounter. Hikaru Nakamura grabbed second place despite losing in the rapid tiebreaker against R Praggnanandhaa. It was precisely Pragg who finished third, leaving Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren behind, in the bottom half of the tournament standings. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess
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Carlsen wins again

Magnus Carlsen participated in every single one of the twelve editions of the Norway Chess super-tournament. After claiming outright victory on Friday, the local hero has won exactly half the times the event has been held, as he obtained his sixth triumph by outscoring Hikaru Nakamura and R Praggnanandhaa.

Last year, Carlsen entered the event after having obtained four consecutive tournament victories in Stavanger, and had a disappointing performance, grabbing sixth place (out of 10) in a single round-robin won by Nakamura. This time around, the organizers decided to put forth a double round-robin, and the Norwegian representative returned to his winning ways.

Carlsen finished 2 points ahead of Nakamura after beating Fabiano Caruana with white in the Armageddon tiebreaker of their final-round confrontation. Nakamura faced Praggnanandhaa on the final day of action, and after safely holding a draw with black in the classical game, went on to lose the rapid decider in 31 moves. Pragg’s Armageddon win was not enough to surpass his US colleague in the standings, and thus the Indian GM ended up in third place.

Alireza Firouzja, who got the better of Ding Liren in Armageddon on Friday, finished a mere point behind Pragg, so he should not be as disappointed with his performance as Caruana and especially Ding. The world champion will need to continue working on his health-related issues in time for the world title match at the end of the year. We surely hope he recovers his usual form before facing a highly motivated D Gukesh.

Final standings

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 Magnus Carlsen NOR 2830 17.5
2 Hikaru Nakamura USA 2794 15.5
3 R Praggnanandhaa IND 2747 14.5
4 Alireza Firouzja FRA 2737 13.5
5 Fabiano Caruana USA 2805 11.5
6 Ding Liren CHN 2762 7

Praggnanandhaa, Hikaru Nakamura

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (placed third) beat Hikaru Nakamura (second) in Armageddon | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Carlsen 1 - 0 Caruana (Armageddon)

Endgame analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana

Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Expert analysis by GM Daniel King

All games - Classical

All games - Armageddon

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.