Norway Blitz: Carlsen Crushes

The No Logo Norway Chess Tournament will take place in Stavanger, Norway from June 2nd to June 13th. The tournament features some of the best players in the world and has a massive rating average of 2774.

Why "No Logo"?

Many of our readers have been inquiring about the banner appearing above the Norway Chess 2014 tournament logo. The organisers have explained it:

Our main sponsor, Unibet, is one of the largest online gambling operators in the European market with over 8.9 million customers worldwide in more than 100 countries. According to Norwegian gambling law marketing of international online gambling operators is not allowed. However sponsoring is accepted if commersial logo is not displayed to the public. Though the law still states that Unibet cannot claim for their logo to be used in connection with the tournament, or the event they are sponsoring.

This partnership does not give Unibet commercial rights to advertise in Norway, and therefore a neutral sponsor-name for the tournament has been chosen. No Logo Norway Chess has no direct link to Unibet, nor its way of operations. Towards their international markets Unibet will use the “No Logo” logo in combination with its own logo. The agreement also give Unibet the rights to stream matches from the tournament, and all of Magnus Carlsen’s matches will be shown live online on Unibet TV. This will coincide with a huge offering on odds for the event, both pre match and live.

Blitz Tournament

The Blitz Tournament was absolutely dominated by Magnus Carlsen. With an impressive 7.5/9 he left no doubts on who was the best player of the day. That being said, Levon Aronian's 6.5/9 was also very good. The top three players in the tournament finished in the top three spots. Joining them will be Karjakin and Svidler with more whites than blacks.

Carlsen commented after the tournament about Aronian: "He is in good form. I was impressed by our game. 6.5 was enough to win last year, it is an excellent score." He was quickly asked by Norwegian television: "If 6.5 is an excellent score then what is 7.5?"and his witty remark: "Well, that would be my score."

Carlsen gave up three draws in this tournament.
Topalov was not one of those draws.

Giri only scored one draw in the event! In this game he won against Karjakin

The beautiful scenery of Flor & Fjære

The players and spectators had to take a boat to get there!

Final Standings - Blitz

Unfortunately for Carlsen (fortunately for Topalov!) the event was not FIDE blitz rated

Replay today's games

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Schedule of Events

Pairings

Links Official tournament site Blitz games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.