Magnus Carlsen emerged as the winner of the Norway Chess 2022, the competition celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. It is the World Champion’s fourth straight title at his home tournament and the fifth overall.
The 10-player round-robin took place at Finansparken in Stavanger, Norway, from May 30 to June 10. Each round consisted of a classical game with a win worth 3 points and a loss - 0. In case of a draw, the players played an Armageddon game, where the winner scored 1½ points, and the loser got just 1 point with a draw favouring Black.
The World Champion hit a skit at the beginning after losing his Round 2 Armageddon game to Wesley So, while Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand started with two wins in classical games and grabbed the lead.
Photo: © Norway Chess
Magnus caught up with Vishy soon, and the leaders clashed in Round 5. After drawing the classical game, Anand prevailed in a topsy-turvy Armageddon duel and regained the lead but not for long. In Round 6, Carlsen beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a classical game and leapfrogged Anand, who bested Anish Giri but only in Armageddon.
Not many considered Mamedyarov a real contender for the top position at that point, but the Azerbaijani GM proved otherwise. Shakhriyar scored two crucial victories in classical games over Giri and Anand in Rounds 7 and 8 and came into the final round just a half-point behind Carlsen, who miraculously escaped against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in both classical and Armageddon games in Round 8.
Photo: © Norway Chess
After the leaders drew both classical and Armageddon games in the final round Magnus (who had black pieces) finished a full point ahead of Shakhriyar and took the title. 52-year-old Viswanathan Anand, who was in the race for the first place for most of the tournament, delivered an excellent performance and came out third.
Final standings:
|
1 |
Carlsen, Magnus |
2864 |
16½ |
|
2 |
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar |
2770 |
15½ |
|
3 |
Anand, Viswanathan |
2751 |
14½ |
|
4 |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
2750 |
14 |
|
5 |
So, Wesley |
2766 |
12½ |
|
6 |
Giri, Anish |
2761 |
12 |
|
7 |
Topalov, Veselin |
2730 |
9½ |
|
8 |
Tari, Aryan |
2654 |
9½ |
|
9 |
Radjabov, Teimour |
2753 |
8 |
|
10 |
Wang, Hao |
2744 |
7½ |
Photo: © Norway Chess
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (pictured above) won the Open Tournament netting 7½/9. The rising Indian star finished a point ahead Marsel Efroimski and Jung Min Seo, who tied for second place.
Photo: © Norway Chess
