Meanwhile, 1.b3 has also found its way into the practice of today's world elite, and now finally a modern top ten player has taken on the subject for ChessBase: none other than Grandmaster Wesley So!
With 2½ / 5 So started slowly but then suddenly everything went for him and he scored 3½ / 4 in the second half of the tournament to become sole first with 6.0/9 (+4, =4, -1). His good run began with the following win against Karjakin.
With solid performances Hikaru Nakamura (+2, =7, -0) and Vishy Anand (+3, =6, -1) shared second and third place, half a point ahead of Carlsen who finished fourth with 5,0/9 (+2, =6, -1).
Though Carlsen won only two games he was the only one to defeat the eventual tournament winner So and he also won against Fabiano Caruana, his challenger in the upcoming World Championship match in November.
In both of these games Carlsen won in the endgame. Against So he showed what you can do with a bishop, against Caruana he showed what you can do with a knight.
Chess Endgames 14 - The golden guidelines of endgame play
Rules of thumb are the key to everything when you are having to set the correct course in a complex endgame. In this final DVD of his series on the endgame, our endgame specialist introduces you to the most important of these rules of thumb.
| Rg. | Name | Country | ELO | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pts. |
| 1 | Wesley So |
|
2778 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 6.0 | |
| 2 | Hikaru Nakamura |
|
2769 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5.5 | |
| 3 | Viswanathan Anand |
|
2760 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.5 | |
| 4 | Magnus Carlsen |
|
2843 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 5.0 | |
| 5 | Fabiano Caruana |
|
2822 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | |
| 6 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov |
|
2808 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.5 | |
| 7 | Maxime Vachier Lagrave |
|
2789 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5 | |
| 8 | Sergey Karjakin |
|
2782 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 3.5 | |
| 9 | Liren Ding |
|
2791 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3.0 | |
| 10 | Levon Aronian |
|
2764 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 3.0 |
Norwegian Grandmaster Simen Agdestein commented the blitz tournament live.
Carlsen’s performance cost him 25.8 points on the live-rating list for blitz, but despite this heavy loss he is still the clear number one in blitz.
The main tournament starts on Monday. All games begin rather late in the day at 16:30 CEST (10:30 EDT). There are two rest days on May 31st and June 4th. The regular final round will be held on June 7th, with a potential playoff (if necessary) on either the 7th or 8th (depending on the number of tied players). The first six rounds will take place at the Clarion Hotel Energy, and then the tournament moves and plays the rest of the tournament in the Stavanger Concert Hall.
The concert hall of Stavanger | Image: Google
As luck – or the blitz results – would have it, Carlsen will play Caruana in the first round.
| SNo. | Name | Rtg | Res. | Name | Rtg | SNo. | ||
| 1 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2769 | – | GM | Ding Liren | 2791 | 10 |
| 2 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | 2760 | – | GM | Aronian Levon | 2764 | 9 |
| 3 | GM | So Wesley | 2778 | – | GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2782 | 8 |
| 4 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2843 | – | GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2822 | 7 |
| 5 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2808 | – | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2789 | 6 |
For all chess fans outside Norway, the organizers are offering a live webcast in English with commentary by Simen Agdestein, Knut Skeie Solberg and Anna Rudolf. Norwegians can also follow the tournament on Norway's TV 2 Sport television channel.
The organizers Kjell Madland, Frode Sømme and Benedicte Westre Skog have all focussed on promoting scholastic chess, as they agree with many others that chess is an excellent tool for the development of the intellectual ability of young people. So, after the Altibox Norway Chess tournament, just outside Stavanger, in Bryne, a three-day school and children's chess festival takes place.
On the edge of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament, the Norway Summit will also be held, a series of events on artificial intelligence.
|
Day |
Event |
Place |
Side event |
| 27. May | Blitz tournament | Clarion Hotel Energy | |
| 28. May | 1st Round | Clarion Hotel Energy | |
| 29. May | 2nd Round | Clarion Hotel Energy | |
| 30. May | 3rd Round | ||
| 31. May | Rest day | Clarion Hotel Energy | |
| 1. June | 4th Round | Clarion Hotel Energy | |
| 2. June | 5th Round | Clarion Hotel Energy | |
| 3. June | 6th Round | Clarion Hotel Energy | |
| 4. June | Rest day | ||
| 5. June | 7th Round | Stavanger Concert Hall | Norway Summit (Clarion Hotel Energy) |
| 6. June | 8th Round | Stavanger Concert Hall | |
| 7. June | 9th Round | Stavanger Concert Hall | |
| 8. June | Playoff (if needed) | School tournament (Bryne) | |
| 9. June | Team tournament (Bryne) | ||
| 10. June | Children's Grand Prix (Bryne) |
