Caruana takes the sole lead

Two classical games ended decisively in round seven of the Norway Chess super-tournament, with Fabiano Caruana and Gukesh Dommaraju both collecting 3 points to leapfrog Magnus Carlsen in the standings.

Caruana now tops the table on 12½ points, a full point ahead of Gukesh and 1½ points ahead of Carlsen, who prevailed over Hikaru Nakamura in their Armageddon decider.

With three rounds to go, the fight for first place remains tightly contested, and round eight — the final one before the last rest day of the tournament — will see all three frontrunners playing with the black pieces.

Standings after round 7

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

Gukesh Dommaraju has achieved two consecutive classical wins and is now well within the race for overall victory | Photo: Michal Walusza

Fabiano Caruana's victory over Wei Yi was a model of technical conversion. Playing white, Caruana built up a stable positional edge and entered a favourable endgame with rooks and bishop of opposite colours, with an extra pawn.

Wei defended resiliently and looked close to holding the balance, but Caruana showed tenacity to keep posing problems. Eventually, the Chinese grandmaster cracked under pressure, allowing Caruana to convert after 55 moves. This marks Caruana's third classical win of the tournament, confirming his good form and fighting spirit.

Sole leader Fabiano Caruana joined fans and organisers after scoring a crucial win on Monday | Photo: Michal Walusza

World champion Gukesh Dommaraju scored his second consecutive classical win by defeating Arjun Erigaisi - for the first time in a classical game - in round seven. Coming from his maiden classical victory over Magnus Carlsen in the previous round, Gukesh once again found himself under pressure but managed to turn the tables. Arjun launched an aggressive middlegame offensive, supported by a strong central pawn advance that placed Gukesh under pressure.

Much like in his previous game against Carlsen, Gukesh found himself in a precarious situation but defended with precision to defuse the threats. Once the position stabilised and he emerged with an extra pawn, Gukesh transitioned into a favourable endgame.

From there, his technique was never in doubt, and he clinched the win to remain within a point of new sole leader Caruana. (Find below expert analyses by GMs Karsten Müller and Daniel King).

Gukesh, Dommaraju2787

1–0

Erigaisi Arjun2782

Norway Chess 2025 Stavanger02.06.2025[Mueller,Karsten]

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 0-0 6.h3 Nxe4 7.Bxf7+ Rxf7 8.Nxe4 d5 9.Nc3 c5 10.0-0 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Nc6 12.Nf3 d4 13.Ne4 Qd5 14.Re1 h6 15.c3 d3 16.Re3 Bf5 17.Ng3 Rd8 18.Bd2 e5 19.Ne1 e4 20.f3 exf3 21.Nxf3 Be6 22.Ne4 Ne5 23.Nxe5 Bxe5 24.Qe1 Rdf8 25.Ng3 Bf4 26.Rxe6 Bxd2 27.Rxg6+ Kh7 28.Qe6 Qxe6 29.Rxe6 Bf4 30.Nf1 Bc7 31.Rd1 Rd7 32.Nd2 Bb6+ 33.Kh1 Kg7 34.Nf3 Rf6 35.Re4 Rfd6 36.Ne5 Rd8 37.Rg4+ Kf6 38.Nc4 Rc6 39.Rf1+ Ke7 40.Rg7+ Ke8 41.Rg8+ Ke7 42.Rg7+ Ke8 43.Ne5 Re6 44.Rg8+ Ke7 45.Rg7+ Ke8 46.Rg8+ Ke7 47.Rxd8 Kxd8 48.Nxd3 Re2 49.a4 Rd2 50.Rf3 a5 51.h4 Ke7 52.Kh2 Ke6 53.b4 Kd5 54.bxa5 Bc7+ 55.Kh3 Kc4 56.Nf2 Bxa5 57.Ng4 Rd6 58.Ne3+ Kb3 59.Nf5 Ra6 60.Kg4 Kxa4 61.Kh5

Deep races. In the fight bishop against knight, the knight usually wants statical control and the bishop wants dynamics. So in this case Black has still decent drawing chances as his bishop is quite strong: 61...Rc6? Here the rook is vulnerable to Nd4. 61...Kb3 defends, e.g. 62.Nxh6 Bxc3 63.g4 b5 64.Nf5 b4 65.g5 Kb2 66.g6 b3 67.g7 Bxg7 68.Nxg7 Ka2= 62.Rf4+! Gukesh finds the right moment to play this move. Ka3 63.c4? But now Black's bishop can enter the defence of the kingside directly. Only after 63.Nd4 Rb6 64.Rf3 Kb2 65.c4+- can come. 63...Bd2 64.Rd4 Bc3?

The wrong bishop road. 64...Bc1 defends as after 65.Rd5 Rxc4 66.Nd6 Black now has Rc2= 65.Rd5 65.Rd7!? b6 66.Rd6+- wins as well. 65...Ka4 65...Rxc4 is met by 66.Nd6 Rc6 67.Nxb7 Bb4 68.g4+- 66.Rb5 b6 67.Nxh6 Ba5 68.Nf5 68.g4 Rxc4 69.Rb1+- is more precise according to the computer. 68...Rxc4 69.Rb1 b5 70.Ra1+ Kb4 71.g4 Rc5 72.Kg6 Rc6+ 73.Kf7 Rc7+ 74.Kg6 Rc6+ 75.Kf7 Rc7+ 76.Ke6 Finally Gukesh takes the right direction to the left. Rc6+ 77.Kd7 Rc7+ 78.Kd6 Rc4 79.Rb1+ Gukesh plans to repeat. 79.g5+- comes in the 81st move. 79...Ka4 79...Kc3 can even be met by 80.Rxb5 Bb4+ 81.Rxb4 Rxb4 82.g5+- 80.Ra1+!

An important check to slow down Black's counterplay. The direct 80.g5? spoils it due to Bc3= 80...Kb4 81.g5 Bc7+ 82.Ke6 Re4+ 83.Kf7 Be5 84.Rf1 Ka3 85.Rf3+ Ka2 86.Re3 The rook exchange is the easiest way to win. Rxe3 87.Nxe3 b4 88.g6 Kb1 88...b3 89.Nc4 b2 90.Nxb2 Kxb2 91.g7 Bxg7 92.Kxg7+- 89.Nc4 Bc3 90.g7 Bxg7 91.Kxg7 Kc2 92.Na5 1–0

Attack like a Super Grandmaster

In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

The round also featured the marquee matchup between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, the two highest-rated players in the world.

After disappointing results in earlier rounds, both opted for a pragmatic approach in the classical game, agreeing to a 21-move draw. In the Armageddon, Carlsen had the white pieces and faced a combative setup by Nakamura. The game entered a sharp, tactical phase in mutual time trouble, with Carlsen eventually outmanoeuvring his opponent. Nakamura missed critical defensive resources, and Carlsen capitalised to earn 1½ points, keeping himself in the race for tournament victory.

Carlsen, Magnus2837

1–0

Nakamura, Hikaru2804

Norway Chess Armageddon 2025 Stavanger02.06.2025[CC]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.g3 b5 6.Bg2 e6 There is plenty of potential for a double-edged fight out of this variation in the Semi-Slav, one that has been employed repeatedly in the past by the likes of Alexei Shirov. Apparently, Nakamura, who often employs more of a solid approach, intended to surprise his opponent. 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Ne5 Qc8 9.b3 b4 10.Na4 c3 11.a3 Nbd7 12.axb4 Bxb4 13.Ba3 a5 A novelty by Nakamura. 13...Bxa3 14.Rxa3 c5 15.Bxb7 Qxb7 16.Nxc5 Nxc5 17.dxc5 0-0 had been tried in the past. 14.Nxc3

Carlsen used more than two and a half minutes (out of the eight he had remaining) before playing this good-looking recourse - which is correct and gives White a clear positional edge. 14...0-0 Not 14...Bxc3 due to 15.Nc4 Qb8 16.Nd6+ and there is no way to prevent White from - at least - winning material, e.g. Kd8 17.Nxf7+ 15.Bxb4 axb4 16.Nxd7 Nxd7 17.Na4 White has a great position, with the better pawn structure and fewer weaknesses. However, this was an Armageddon game, so there was plenty of room for surprises. Ba6 18.Qd2 Bb5 19.Rfc1 Ra6 20.e3 Qa8 21.Qxb4 White is now a pawn to the good. Nb6 22.Rc5 Nd5 23.Bxd5 exd5 24.Rcc1 h5 25.h4 Re8 26.Qc3 Qc8 27.Nc5 Not the most precise, since White should have preferred to keep the extra pair of rooks on the board. Better is 27.Qc2 Bxa4 28.Rxa4 and now Rb6 since Black does not want to deal with an outside passer on the a-file. 27...Rxa1 28.Rxa1 g5

Nakamura goes for complications - White's pieces are all on the queenside, and Black's bishop should be quicker than White's knight if there is play on both flanks. Both players had around two minutes on their clocks at this point. 29.hxg5 h4 30.e4 Carlsen finds the best continuation, opening a path for his queen to reach the kingside for defensive purposes. dxe4 31.Re1 Qg4 32.Qe3 hxg3 33.fxg3 Kg7 34.Kg2 Both contenders - perhaps the strongest blitz players in the world - have shown remarkable precision up to this point. Engines evaluate the position as almost fully balanced. With about 90 seconds on the clock for each, though, mistakes begin to creep in here. Rh8 Stronger is to simplify with 34...Qf3+ 35.Qxf3 exf3+ 36.Kf2 Be2 and e.g.: 37.Ra1 Kg6 which should be holdable for Black, who only needs a draw to get an extra half point in the Armageddon. 35.Qxe4 Not the refutation. Better is 35.Qf4 Qh3+ 36.Kf2 Re8 and now the strongest is the tricky 37.Kg1 since Rh8 fails to 38.Qe5+ Kg8 39.Kf2 Qh2+ 40.Ke3 and White's king is safe in the centre of the board, while the queen is perfectly placed on e5. 35...Qh3+

The final mistake. Again Nakamura rejected to defend passively after 35...Qxg5 36.Qe5+ Qxe5 37.dxe5 36.Kf3 Bf1 Nakamura's idea - which does not work here. 37.Kf4 Qh2 38.Qe5+ Kg8 39.Rxf1 Qg2 40.Ra1 Black resigned. 1–0

A Supergrandmaster's Guide to Openings Vol.1 & 2

This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.

Local hero Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Michal Walusza

All games - Classical

All games - Armageddon

Links

• Official site
• Magnus Carlsen wins sixth Norway Chess title (2024)
• Ju Wenjun triumphant at inaugural Norway Chess Women event (2024)
• Nakamura beats Caruana to win Norway Chess (2023)
• Magnus Carlsen wins Norway Chess for a fourth straight time (2022)
• Carlsen wins Norway Chess, Firouzja shines (2021)