Three Norwegians among the early leaders
The Fagernes International Autumn Tournament is under way in Norway, with the GM Swiss group serving as the main event of the festival. The competition is being played from 3 to 11 October at the Scandic Valdres hotel in Fagernes, around 187 kilometres north of Oslo. Hans Olav Lahlum is the main organiser, working in cooperation with Sotra Sjakklubb.
The GM group is being contested over ten rounds in nine days, a format designed in part to provide greater flexibility for players pursuing title norms. The schedule includes a double-round day (on Tuesday), while the remaining days feature one classical game. The ten-round structure allows norm performances to be calculated over different nine-game stretches in certain circumstances.
While tactics decide the game in concrete moments, strategy guides the entire battle. Understanding how to improve your pieces, create weaknesses, execute maneuvers, and steer the game toward favorable structures is what defines strong players.
After exploring the fundamentals of calculation in his first ChessBase course, International Master Kostya Kavutskiy now turns to the other half of chess mastery: positional play.
This course offers a structured and practical introduction to the core elements of positional chess.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: Strategic Classic: Bondarevsky - Smyslov
The time control is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 40 minutes for the remainder of the game, with a 30-second increment from move one. The section is open to titled players and to competitors meeting the specified rating requirements of 2000, or 1900 for women. First prize in the GM group is €3,000.
A number of experienced grandmasters are competing in the section. Norwegian champion Elham Amar is the top seed with a rating of 2567, followed by Kazakhstan's Rinat Jumabayev on 2564 and Norway's Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal on 2554. Abhijeet Gupta, G. B. Harshavardhan and Krishnan Sasikiran are the next three players on the starting list, while Aksel Bu Kvaloy and German rising star Christian Gloeckler are both rated 2515.
Top seed Elham Amar played black against Krishnan Ritvik in Saturday's first round (0-1) | Photo: Anna Ovidia Young
After the opening two rounds, six players share first place with perfect scores. Sweden's Tiger Hillarp Persson (2417) is joined on 2/2 by Aksel Bu Kvaloy (2515) of Norway, Christian Gloeckler (2515) of Germany, Harika Dronavalli (2453) of India, Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal (2554) of Norway and Mads Vestby-Ellingsen (2390) of Norway.
Fagernes has become a regular venue for international chess in Norway. Lahlum has organised tournaments there since 2014, following earlier events in Gausdal and Oslo, and the 2026 autumn competition forms part of the Norges Grand Prix 2026–27 circuit.
All games from the GM group are being broadcast online with a 15-minute delay. The tournament concludes on Sunday 11 October, when the tenth and final round will be played in the morning.
Haugen v. Myagmarsuren
The all-Norwegian round-one battle between Lars Haugen and Evsuld Myagmarsuren ended rather abruptly after White faltered by playing 24.Rf1?
Though placing the rook on the f-file seems to help White to deal with the threat of a potential attack on the weak f2-spot, it was necessary to start by displacing the black queen on g5 after either 24.Rg3 or 24.Qd2.
After the text move, Black wins in style: 24...fxe4 25.Rg3 (too late) Rxf2!
White is doomed. Resignation came after 26.Rxf2 Qc1+ (playing Rg3 or Qd2 in the first diagrammed position would have prevented the black queen from infiltrating on this diagonal) 27.Qf1 Bxf2 28.Kxf2 Rf8+
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Invisible moves
The other rook joins the fun and it is game over. Importantly, the pawn on e4 prevents the white rook from defending on f3.
Lars Haugen versus Evsuld Myagmarsuren | Photo: Anna Ovidia Young
Standings after round 2
All games
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