Hikaru Nakamura clinched his maiden Norway Chess title after winning on demand over the tournament leader Fabiano Caruana in the final-round game. 

The 11th edition of this prestigious tournament, a 10-player round-robin, featuring elite GMs, took place at Finansparken in Stavanger, Norway, from May 30 to June 9. 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.

Fabiano Caruana beat Magnus Carlsen in the first-round classical game, grabbed the lead and preserved his top position up to Round 9. As the tournament fate would have it, the leader faced second-placed Hikaru Nakamura in the final round. Trailing Caruana by 2.5 points, Hikaru had a chance to wrestle the title from Fabiano by winning the classical game with the white pieces. 

The opponents played a well-known line of the Two Knight Defence which has been tested in many games lately. Black got sufficient compensation for a sacrificed pawn, but the first original move by Caruana (17…f5? instead of tried-and-trusted 17…Nb4) was the decisive mistake as Hikaru simply won another pawn. As the winner said in his post-game interview, Caruana must have confused the move order, as in some variations, f7-f5 is very good for Black. Nakamura quickly neutralized the opponent’s initiative and converted his extra material in an endgame. 

Hikaru took home NOK 750,000 and earned 27.19 FIDE Circuit points. 

Fabiano Caruana came in second (16.5/27), while 17-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju, who turned in a very solid performance, took third place (14.5/27).

The defending and five-time Norway Chess champion Magnus Carlsen finished only sixth, not winning a single classical game. 

Final standings

Photo: Norway Chess

Official website: norwaychess.no/