Levon Aronian wins Norway Chess 2017!

Results of final round

All photos are high-resolution. Click on them to see full size.

As the general picture of World Chess rankings had already taken shape the day before, the last round saw the participants tidying up to reach their local goals.

The Norway Chess merchandise stand (photo by Lennart Ootes)

Levon Aronian was determined not to lose his leading position, and he came out to hold his own against Wesley So. A typical Queens Gambit Declined structure ensued, with White maintaining a rather symbolic edge against Black's isolated pawn. In this day and age it's near impossible to beat a determined opponent from such a dry setup. Congratulations to Levon for winning his second major tournament after the Grenke Classic and regaining his rightful place among the 2800 dwellers. It may still be not too late for him to challenge for second and third positions in the combined 2017 rating list and claim a spot in the Candidates, although he needs to keep on going. His low numbers in previous monthly lists are hurting his average.

Levon Aronian's star has risen from the ashes, and he shinesonce more (photo by Tone Marie Haubrick)

Wesley So had a disappointing showing in Stavanger. His meteoric rise to the top has slowed down to a crawl. Wesley appears to be unsure how to continue. So far he's making a point of not losing games, but it comes at the expense of not winning any! In his interview the other day Wesley made an interesting suggestion about banishing draws in tournament play by making the guilty parties replay the game under faster time controls, all the way to Armageddon. Think what you want about it from a spectator's point of view, but as a former player I shudder at the thought of such an enormous workload. I don't think any major changes are coming any time soon. In the meantime, barring a major collapse, So is going to make the Candidates, and then we'll see whether it was worth the wait.

Nine games, nine draws. Not what Welsey So or his fans expected. (photo by Lennart Ootes)

Wesley So vs Levon Aronian (annotated by GM Alex Yermolinsky)

Sergey Karjakin came last, but said his energy was focused on the next Candidates (photo by Tone Marie Haubrick)

The same comment applies even to a larger extent to the last-place finisher, former World Championship Candidate, Sergey Karjakin. Today he had another uninspiring performance against Vachier-Lagrave. In fact, only Black could be better in a standard Sicilian rook ending.

Sergey Karjakin vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (annotated by GM Alex Yermolinsky)

I know that in his interviews Sergey made a point of downplaying the importance of his results in “mere” tournaments in favor of focusing on the upcoming Candidates. Perhaps, he has a point: in today's topsy-turvy happenings at the top of chess rankings, it almost makes sense to play badly prior to the important event just to increase your chances of a sudden turnaround when it counts. We shall see.

The same logic may apply to MVL, who has kept a low profile since hitting his peak about a year ago. The difference is, Maxime is not in the Candidates yet, whereas the previous challenger, Karjakin has a berth already guaranteed.

An animated Magnus Carlsen puts on his game face on Norwegian TV (photo by Lennart Ootes)

Another player, who felt enormous relief after winning his first game of the tournament in the previous round was, of course, World Champion Magnus Carlsen. I suspect he wouldn't have minded building up on this, but the parings for the last round were less than accommodating. Beating Vishy Anand with black is a tall order to fill. If anything, Magnus was skirting disaster today yet again.

Vishy Anand vs Magnus Carlsen (annotated by GM Alex Yermolinsky)

In spite of a rocky start with two losses, Vishy Anand hit back with a win over Fabiano Caruana (photo by Lennart Ootes)

The strangest game of today's round was, undoubtedly, a rapid crash and burn of Anish Giri at the capable hands of Vladimir Kramnik.

Vladimir Kramnik vs Anish Giri (annotated by GM Alex Yermolinsky)

This surprising twist at the finish should not take too big of a bite from Giri's performance here. I am particularly impressed with how Anish shrugged off a disheartening first round loss to Hikaru to play aggressive chess throughout the event. If he continues this way, his opposition in the forthcoming FIDE Grand Prix tournaments had better take heed.

Anish Giri showed spark and spunk we have not been accustomed to, and it was a real pleasure to see. Keep it up! (photo by Lennart Ootes)

Same praise should be heaped upon Anish's esteemed opponent, Vladimir Kramnik. Vladimir played with gusto, and just his first win over Carlsen in seven years would have made his efforts worthwhile. As it happened, Kramnik was able to leapfrog Giri and land in a share of second and third, together with Nakamura, who ended his Stavanger campaign on a low note by losing to his teammate Fabiano Caruana.

One of the event's highlights, Kramnik showed energetic chess, and though it was a bit unsteady at the end with two wins, and two losses, it is the kind of effort that does him credit (photo by Lennart Ootes)

Fabiano Caruana managed to redeem himself ever so slightly at the end by beating Hikaru Nakamura (photo by Tone Marie Haubrick)

An interested Magnus Carlsen watches the game between the two Americans unfold. He knew that if Hikaru Nakamura were to win, there might be a playoff for the title against Levon Aronian. (photo by Lennart Ootes)

Fabiano Caruana vs Hikaru Nakamura (annotated by GM Alex Yermolinsky)

If we skip blitz and rapid games, then since about a year ago this is the fourth win for Caruana in their head-to-head encounters, with three of those coming in the Sicilian: US Championship 2016, London Classic 2016 and now this. Hikaru clearly counts on his tactical mastery to bail him out of trouble, but even an off-form Caruana is always good for one strong game.

As we look at the final crosstable, we see a triumph by Aronian, with all others left somewhat dissatisfied with their results. Nevertheless, I'd like to thank the players for their gift of chess to all of us.

Levon Aronian, winner of Norway Chess 2017! (photo by Lennart Ootes)

Final standings

(click for full size)

Pairings and results of Norway Chess 2017

Links

• Official tournament site
• All Blitz games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)
• All Standard games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)

You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.