Norway Chess: Ding misses chances, Carlsen leads

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/5/2024 – Round 8 of the Norway Chess tournament saw Magnus Carlsen extending his lead over Hikaru Nakamura to a full point, as he got the better of R Praggnanandhaa in Armageddon, while Nakamura was defeated by Alireza Firouzja in the rapid tiebreaker. In the remaining encounter of the day, Ding Liren missed winning chances both in the classical game (which ended drawn) and the ensuing tiebreaker against Fabiano Caruana — a second draw with black in Armageddon granted Caruana 1½ points. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess
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Armageddon victories

Magnus Carlsen drew 4 out of the 8 classical games he has played so far at the Norway Chess super-tournament. Out of the 4 Armageddon deciders he played, he prevailed in three of them — the one player who beat him in this stage of the mini-matches was Hikaru Nakamura in round 7. In Tuesday’s eighth round, Carlsen drew R Praggnanandhaa in their classical encounter and then beat him in Armageddon.

The strong performance of Carlsen in the rapid tiebreakers in this edition mimics his previous showings in the rapid stages of the event, as noted by Tarjei J. Svensen, who shared the following stats on X:

Carlsen only has six Armageddon losses out of 32 games in #NorwayChess history:

❎Nakamura (with black) in 2024
❎Abdusattorov (with white) in 2023 (draw)
❎So (with black) in 2022
❎Anand (with black) in 2022
❎Tari (with black) in 2022
❎Caruana (with black) in 2019

Tuesday’s Armageddon victory allowed Carlsen to get a full-point lead over Nakamura in the standings. With two rounds to go and with classical wins granting 3 points, it is still all to play for in Stavanger.

The two remaining mini-matches in round 8 were also decided in the rapid tiebreakers, though there was no lack of excitement in the drawn classical encounters. In the end, it was Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja who prevailed in the deciders, over Ding Liren and Nakamura respectively.

While Firouzja outplayed Nakamura in a tactical struggle in Armageddon, Ding missed chances in both games against Caruana and ended up drawing with white in the tiebreaker — this is the second consecutive round that sees the world champion getting promising positions and failing to convert them into victories.

Following the rest day, Carlsen will play black against a resurgent Firouzja, while Nakamura will get the white pieces against Ding.

Alireza Firouzja

Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Carlsen 1 - 0 Praggnanandhaa (Armageddon)

Analysis by André Schulz

Carlsen, Magnus28301–0Praggnanandhaa R2747
Norway Chess Armageddon 2024
Stavanger04.06.2024[Schulz,A]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 Bd6 6.Bxd6 Qxd6 7.Qb3 b6 7...Qb6 8.c5 Qxb3 9.axb3 Nc6 10.Bb5 0-0 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Kd2 Rfb8 13.Ra3 Rb7 14.Nge2 Rab8 15.Nc1 e5 ½-½ Barseghyan,H (2467)-Stefansson,H (2523) PRO League Stage Chess.com INT rapid 2018 (6) 16.dxe5 Nd7 17.Ra5 Nxe5 18.N3e2 h5 19.Nd4 Bh7± 8.Nf3 0-0 9.Be2 dxc4 9...a6 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Rac1 dxc4 12.Bxc4 b5 13.Be2 c5 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Qb4 Rfc8= 0-1 Kamsky,G (2662)-Nakamura,H (2736) Speed Chess GP4 Chess.com INT blitz 2021 (6) 10.Qxc4 a6 11.0-0 Nbd7 12.Rfd1 b5 13.Qb3=
13...c5 14.dxc5 Qxc5 15.Nd4 Bg6 16.Bf3 Ra7 16...Bh5!? 17.Rac1 White exerts pressure on the queenside. Black counters on the kingside. Qg5 18.Nc6 18.Qa3!? Ne5 19.Be2 Qh4 20.h3± 18...Ne5 19.Nxe5 Qxe5 20.a4 bxa4 21.Qb6 21.Nxa4 Be4= 21...Qb8 22.Nxa4 h6 23.Be2 Nd5 24.Qd4 a5 25.Nc5 Qb6 26.Bf3 Rb8 27.Bxd5 exd5 28.b3 After 28.Qxd5?! Qxb2 Black would get an outside passed pawn. 28...Rc7
29.Ne6 Qxd4 30.Nxd4 Rbc8 31.Ra1 Bc2 32.Rdc1 Bd3 33.Rxc7 Rxc7 34.f3 34.Rxa5?? Rc1# 34...Rc5 35.Kf2 35.g4!? 35...h5 36.Ke1 g6 37.Kd2 Bf5=
38.Rc1 White expected nothing from the rook ending. 38.Nxf5 gxf5 39.Rc1 Rb5= 38...Rxc1 39.Kxc1 Bd7 40.Kb2 Kf8 41.Kc3 Ke7 42.Ne2 Kd6 43.Kd4 a4 44.bxa4 Bxa4 45.Nf4 With the pawns on the same wing, the knight is slightly better. Bb3 46.h4 Ba2 47.g4 hxg4 47...g5!?= 48.fxg4 Ke7 Or 48...Bb3 49.h5 gxh5 50.gxh5 Bc2 51.Nxd5 Ke6 52.e4 f6 53.h6 Kf7 54.Nf4 Kg8= 49.Nxd5+ Ke6 50.e4 Bb3 51.Nf4+ Kf6?! More cautious was 51...Kd6 e.g.: 52.h5 gxh5 53.gxh5 Ke7 54.Ke5 Kf8 55.Kf6 Bc2 56.e5 Kg8 57.Nh3 Bd1 58.Nf4 Bf3= 52.g5+ Kg7 53.Ke5
White has a space advantage and winning plans in connection with the advance of the e-pawn. In certain situations, White can give up the knight on f7, win back the piece with the e5-e6 advance and then put Black in zugzwang. 53...Bc2 54.Nd5 Bd3? Absolutely necessary was 54...Kf8 55.Nf6 Ke7= 55.Nf6 Kf8 56.Kd6 Bb1 57.Kd7 57.e5? Bf5= 57...Bc2 58.Kd8 Bb1 59.Nd7+ Or even 59.e5 Bf5 60.Nd7+ Kg8 61.Ke7 Be6 62.Nf6+ Kg7 63.Ne8+ Kg8 64.Nd6 Kg7 65.Nxf7 Bxf7 66.e6+- 59...Kg7 60.e5 Bf5 61.Ke7 Bb1 62.Nc5 Bc2 63.Nb7 Bb1 64.Nd6 Ba2
65.Nxf7 Bxf7 66.e6 Bg8 67.Kd7 1–0

Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Ding ½ - ½ Caruana (Armageddon)

Analysis by André Schulz

Ding, Liren2762½–½Caruana, Fabiano2805
Norway Chess Armageddon 2024
Stavanger04.06.2024[Schulz,A]
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.b3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Bb2 b6 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.d4 Be6 12.Rc1 Rc8 13.Qd2 h6 14.Rfd1 Qd7 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.Ne1 Rfd8 17.Nd3 c4 18.Nf4 Bb4 19.Qc2 Na5
20.Bxd5 cxb3? Even better was 20...Bf5 21.Be4 Bxe4 22.Qxe4 Qe8 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Qxe8+ Rxe8 25.bxc4 g5 26.Nd3 Rxe2 27.c5 with winning chances for White. 21.Bxe6? 21.Qe4 wins: Rxc1 22.Bxc1 Bxd5 23.Qxb4 Nc6 24.Qc3 bxa2 25.Bb2 f6 26.Rxd5 gains a piece. 21...Rxc2 22.Rxd7 Rxd7 23.Bxd7 Rxc1+ 24.Bxc1 bxa2 Here White also is a piece up, but... 25.Bb2 Ba3 26.Bc3 26.Bd4 Nb3 27.Bc3 Bb4 28.Bb2= 28.Be5 Bc5 29.e3 Bd4-+ 26.Be5 Bd6= 26...Bb4 27.Bb2 Ba3 28.Bc3 Bb4 29.Bb2 Ba3 ½–½

Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Firouzja 1 - 0 Nakamura (Armageddon)

Analysis by GM Daniel King

Standings after round 8

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 Magnus Carlsen NOR 2830 14.5
2 Hikaru Nakamura USA 2794 13.5
3 R Praggnanandhaa IND 2747 12
4 Alireza Firouzja FRA 2737 11
5 Fabiano Caruana USA 2805 9
6 Ding Liren CHN 2762 4.5

All games - Classical

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1.d4 5 Nf6 2 2.c4 7 e6 7 3.Nf3 4 d5 6 4.g3 6 Be7 14:53 5.Bg2 9 0-0 10 6.0-0 4 c6 8 7.Qc2 12:51 b6 12 8.Bf4 28 Bb7 3:51 9.Rd1 1:47 Nbd7 2:14 10.Ne5 1:53 Nh5 1:41 11.Bd2 29 Nhf6 17 12.Bf4 17 The position is equal. Nh5 26 13.Bd2 2:15 Nhf6 8 14.Bf4 1:52 Not much happened in this game. Weighted Error Value: White=0.02 (flawless) /Black=0.00 (flawless) . OK: White=1 Black=1 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ding,L2762Carlsen,M2830½–½2024E08Norway Chess 20241.1
Praggnanandhaa R2747Firouzja,A2738½–½2024E04Norway Chess 20241.2
Caruana,F2805Nakamura,H2795½–½2024C54Norway Chess 20241.3
Carlsen,M2830Nakamura,H2795½–½2024C64Norway Chess 20242.1
Firouzja,A2738Caruana,F2805½–½2024D02Norway Chess 20242.2
Ding,L2762Praggnanandhaa R2747½–½2024A20Norway Chess 20242.3
Praggnanandhaa R2747Carlsen,M28301–02024B42Norway Chess 20243.1
Caruana,F2805Ding,L27621–02024C54Norway Chess 20243.2
Nakamura,H2795Firouzja,A2738½–½2024D33Norway Chess 20243.3
Caruana,F2805Carlsen,M28300–12024C54Norway Chess 20244.1
Nakamura,H2795Praggnanandhaa R27471–02024E46Norway Chess 20244.2
Firouzja,A2738Ding,L27621–02024D02Norway Chess 20244.3
Carlsen,M2830Firouzja,A27381–02024C67Norway Chess 20245.1
Ding,L2762Nakamura,H27950–12024A34Norway Chess 20245.2
Praggnanandhaa R2747Caruana,F28051–02024E05Norway Chess 20245.3
Carlsen,M2830Ding,L27621–02024A13Norway Chess 20246.1
Firouzja,A2738Praggnanandhaa R2747½–½2024D25Norway Chess 20246.2
Nakamura,H2795Caruana,F2805½–½2024E45Norway Chess 20246.3
Nakamura,H2795Carlsen,M2830½–½2024E25Norway Chess 20247.1
Caruana,F2805Firouzja,A2738½–½2024C54Norway Chess 20247.2
Praggnanandhaa R2747Ding,L2762½–½2024C54Norway Chess 20247.3
Carlsen,M2830Praggnanandhaa R2747½–½2024C81Norway Chess 20248.1
Ding,L2762Caruana,F2805½–½2024E61Norway Chess 20248.2
Firouzja,A2738Nakamura,H2795½–½2024C54Norway Chess 20248.3
Firouzja,A2738Carlsen,M2830½–½2024C54Norway Chess 20249.1
Nakamura,H2795Ding,L2762½–½2024E51Norway Chess 20249.2
Caruana,F2805Praggnanandhaa R2747½–½2024E48Norway Chess 20249.3
Carlsen,M2830Caruana,F2805½–½2024C77Norway Chess 202410.1
Praggnanandhaa R2747Nakamura,H2795½–½2024C70Norway Chess 202410.2
Ding,L2762Firouzja,A2738½–½2024E04Norway Chess 202410.3

All games - Armageddon

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Bb5+ B56: Classical Sicilian: Unusual Lines. Nbd7 7.Nf5 a6 8.Be2 Nc5 9.Ng3 9.Bg5!? 9...b5 10.a3 10.b4 Ne6 11.a4 10...Be7= 11.0-0 0-0 12.Be3N Predecessor: 12.f4 Bb7 13.Bf3 Ne6 14.Nge2 Qb6+ 15.Kh1 Rac8 16.f5 Nc5 17.Be3 b4 18.axb4 Qxb4 ½-½ Mahsheimer,A-Varas,L Villa Gesell Madariaga 5th 1970 (7.3) 12...Bb7 13.Bf3 g6 14.Qd2 h5 15.Bh6 Re8 16.Rfe1 Ne6 17.Rad1 Nd4 17...Nh7 18.Nf5= Nxf5 18...gxf5 19.Qg5+ Kh8 20.Qg7# 19.exf5 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Qc8 21.fxg6 fxg6 22.Bg5 Qf5 23.Bxf6 Qxf6 24.Nd5 Qxf3 25.Re3 Qf7! 26.Rg3 Bh4 27.Rg2 27.Rh3= Bd8 28.Nc3 27...Kh7 28.Nc3 e4 29.Qe2 29.Qe3 29...Qf3 30.Rxd6 Rad8! 31.Rxd8 31.Rgxg6? Rxd6 32.Rg3 Bxg3 32...Qxe2? 33.Nxe2 Bxg3 34.Nxg3-+ 33.hxg3 Qxe2 34.Nxe2 Rd1+ 35.Kg2 Rd2-+ 31.Rdxg6? Qxe2 32.Kh1 Qxc2-+ 31.Qd2 was worth a try. e3 32.fxe3 31...Rxd8-+ 31...Bxd8 32.Qe3 32.Kf1?
32.h3 32...Qf4? 32...a5!-+ has better winning chances. 33.Rg3 33.Nxe4? Rd1+-+ 33...Bxg3 34.Qxf3 exf3 35.fxg3 Rd2 36.Nxb5 Rxc2 33.Qe3 33.Qxe4? Rd1+ 34.Ke2 Rd2+ 35.Ke1 Bxf2+ 36.Kf1 Rd1+ 37.Nxd1 Qxe4-+ 33...Qf3 33...Qxe3 34.fxe3 Bf6 35.Nxe4 Bxb2 34.h3 34.Qxe4? perishes. Rd1+ 35.Nxd1 Qxe4-+ 34.Qe2!= was the only way to keep the balance. 34...Rd6 35.Rg1?      
35.Qa7+ Kh6 36.Qe3+ Qxe3 37.fxe3 35...a5!-+ 36.b4 axb4 37.axb4 Bf6? 37...Kg7-+ Strongly threatening ...Ra6. 38.Qxf3 exf3 38.Qxe4?       38.Rg3= Qh1+ 39.Rg1 38...Rd1+ Inferior is 38...Qxc3 39.Qxg6+ Kh8 40.Qxh5# 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2805Nakamura,H27950–12024B56Norway Chess Armageddon 20241.1
Ding,L2762Carlsen,M2830½–½2024A20Norway Chess Armageddon 20241.1
Praggnanandhaa R2747Firouzja,A27381–02024D02Norway Chess Armageddon 20241.1
Carlsen,M2830Nakamura,H27951–02024C70Norway Chess Armageddon 20242.1
Ding,L2762Praggnanandhaa R27471–02024A13Norway Chess Armageddon 20242.1
Firouzja,A2738Caruana,F28051–02024A06Norway Chess Armageddon 20242.1
Nakamura,H2795Firouzja,A27381–02024D12Norway Chess Armageddon 20243.1
Nakamura,H2795Caruana,F28050–12024E45Norway Chess Armageddon 20246.1
Firouzja,A2738Praggnanandhaa R27471–02024E11Norway Chess Armageddon 20246.1
Caruana,F2805Firouzja,A2738½–½2024C54Norway Chess Armageddon 20247.1
Nakamura,H2795Carlsen,M28301–02024D35Norway Chess Armageddon 20247.1
Praggnanandhaa R2747Ding,L27621–02024D00Norway Chess Armageddon 20247.1
Carlsen,M2830Praggnanandhaa R27471–02024D00Norway Chess Armageddon 20248.1
Ding,L2762Caruana,F2805½–½2024A14Norway Chess Armageddon 20248.1
Firouzja,A2738Nakamura,H27951–02024C54Norway Chess Armageddon 20248.1
Caruana,F2805Praggnanandhaa R27471–02024E36Norway Chess Armageddon 20249.1
Nakamura,H2795Ding,L27620–12024A17Norway Chess Armageddon 20249.1
Firouzja,A2738Carlsen,M28300–12024C54Norway Chess Armageddon 20249.1
Carlsen,M2830Caruana,F28051–02024E12Norway Chess Armageddon 202410.1
Ding,L2762Firouzja,A27380–12024A48Norway Chess Armageddon 202410.1
Praggnanandhaa R2747Nakamura,H27951–02024D02Norway Chess Armageddon 202410.1

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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