Norway Chess: Carlsen wins opening blitz

by André Schulz
4/18/2016 – The Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger began with a blitz competition, in which Magnus Carlsen showed good form and ambitious chess. The World Champion started with 7.5/8, drawing only against Swedish GM Nils Grandelius. But in the final round Carlsen got a bit careless which helped Anish Giri to beat the winner of the blitz tournament.

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When Magnus Carlsen plays in a tournament he is always a favorite to win. But in the three previous editions of the Norway Chess tournament he finished second twice and in 2015 he even finished seventh. However, judging from his play in the opening blitz Carlsen seems determined to do better this time. He seemed to enjoy playing and playing well. Carlsen won against one opponent after the next, gaining point after point. Only Nils Grandelius managed to draw against the number one in the world.

 

 

 

Before the final round Carlsen was on 7.5/8 and seemed to get a bit careless. But castling queenside in a Ruy Lopez turned out to be too dangerous.

 

Final standings

 

All games

 


The blitz tournament was not just played for the fun of it - it decided the pairings. The top five in the blitz tournament will have five games with White and four games with Black.

 

Schedule of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament 2016

All ordinary rounds start at 4pm CET

Date

Day

Round No.

Place

19.04.2016

Tuesday

Round 1

Blitz Chess (Scandic Stavanger City)

20.04.2016

Wednesday

Round 2

Stavanger Forum

21.04.2016

Thursday

Round 3

Stavanger Forum

22.04.2016

Friday

Round 4

Stavanger Forum

23.04.2016

Saturday

Free

 

24.04.2016

Sunday

Round 5

Stavanger Forum

25.04.2016

Monday

Round 6

Stavanger Forum

26.04.2016

Tuesday

Free

 

27.04.2016

Wednesday

Round 7

Stavanger Concert Hall

28.04.2016

Thursday

Round 8

Stavanger Concert Hall

29.04.2016

Friday

Round 9

Stavanger Concert Hall

30.04.2016 Saturdary Awards Ceremony  

There will be a blitz match and rapid chess Friday April 29 after Round 9 if two players share first place.
If there are more than 2 players sharing first place a new match will take place Saturday 30.
  

Live Broadcast

Watch it live on Playchess!

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Commentary schedule on playchess.com

Date

Day

Round No.

English

Deutsch

19.04.2016

Tuesday

Round 1

Simon Williams

Klaus Bischoff

20.04.2016

Wednesday

Round 2

Daniel King

Klaus Bischoff

21.04.2016

Thursday

Round 3

Yannick Pelletier

Klaus Bischoff

22.04.2016

Friday

Round 4

Daniel King

Oliver Reeh

23.04.2016

Saturday

Free

 

 

24.04.2016

Sunday

Round 5

Simon Williams

Thomas Luther

25.04.2016

Monday

Round 6

Yannick Pelletier

Thomas Luther

26.04.2016

Tuesday

Free

 

 

27.04.2016

Wednesday

Round 7

Simon Williams

Klaus Bischoff

28.04.2016

Thursday

Round 8

Yannick Pelletier

Klaus Bischoff

29.04.2016

Friday

Round 9

Daniel King

Klaus Bischoff   

 

Links

You can use ChessBase 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.

André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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