GM Magnus Carlsen has won his seventh Norway Chess title after escaping and then almost winning a lost position against GM Arjun Erigaisi. With seconds to spare, he took a draw, which seemed to guarantee the title as GM Fabiano Caruana was beating GM Gukesh Dommaraju, but then Caruana let the win slip… only for the world champion to make the last mistake. Gukesh was inconsolable as he realized his title chances were gone, though he still took third place ahead of GM Hikaru Nakamura, who lost to GM Wei Yi in armageddon.
GM Anna Muzychuk, who finished as runner-up in the women’s tournament last year, won Women’s Norway Chess 2025 to earn 700,000 NOK ($61,617). She made draws in both classical and armageddon (with White) against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, but it was still enough to win. Runner-up GM Lei Tingjie won on demand with the black pieces against IM Sara Khadem in the only classical win. GM Koneru Humpy, in third, didn’t manage to beat GM Ju Wenjun on demand but won the armageddon game.
Norway Chess Final Round Results
In the end there were just two classical wins in the final round, for Caruana and Lei, but the excitement was off the scale!
Open: Carlsen Triumphs After Gukesh Heartbreak
An incredibly tense final round saw Carlsen triumph by the narrowest of margins above Caruana and Gukesh. In fact, the top five were all separated by less than a single classical win.
Norway Chess Final Standings
Carlsen Escapes Vs. Arjun To Clinch Title As Caruana Beats Gukesh
Carlsen’s draw in classical chess against Arjun proved enough to win his seventh Norway Chess title, but it was a wild ride, both in that game and the all-important Caruana-Gukesh clash. The world number-one managed to enjoy it!
I’m relieved, of course, but I’ve got to say I quite enjoyed the day today! Obviously, I understood that there was a very real chance that I was going to lose the game, but I was kind of at peace with that, and I was just trying to fight. The game itself wasn’t the best game, but it was, I think, a great fight.
I understood that there was a very real chance that I was going to lose the game, but I was kind of at peace with that.
—Magnus Carlsen
When Carlsen first visited the confessional, it was to report he was “quite happy” with the outcome of the opening, but then he overlooked the danger of letting Arjun break in the center, and was tricked by his Indian opponent capturing on e7 before playing 17.Qxc6.
Carlsen explained that his initial plan was just to shuffle his rook to b8, which is also the computer’s recommendation at lower depths. Digging deeper, however, both flesh-and-blood and silicon soon realized that 18.Rxf7!! hits like a thunderbolt and Black is all but lost. Carlsen called it a “cold shower” in the confessional, but was glad he could fight on with 17…Nf6.
Magnus regrets not preventing what happened in the game, admits suffering “a cold shower”, but concludes: “So I’m a little lucky that I’m not just losing on the spot, and since I’m not, or I’m pretty sure I’m not, the game goes on, and it’s actually very interesting!” pic.twitter.com/9kgaLhei2n
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 6, 2025
An enthralling struggle ensued, where Carlsen gave up his queen in the hopes of setting up a fortress, but then overlooked a detail so that there was no fortress left. He had to switch to a desperate assault:
I managed to pull myself together. I realized I do have some counterplay and in some of these cases I know that it can be more about the amount of pieces you have rather than the quality—the fact that I have three pieces attacking, eventually four. I thought I would always have good practical chances.
In fact, with some help, he managed to equalize completely, and even missed a way to force a draw on the spot. That almost worked in Carlsen’s favor, however, since after more twists, he’d completely turned around the position and was actually winning.
Incredibly, Magnus is now winning!#NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/gg8WhB3E98
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 6, 2025
In the play that followed, the world number-one missed some amazing direct wins, but never spoiled an advantage right until the final stages. He’d rejected countless opportunities to make a draw, going on yet another king march, but with Caruana on top against Gukesh and just seconds on his clock, Carlsen finally decided to take the practical decision and make a draw. It had been an epic game!
That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below:
The most unlikely outcome on the final day would have been that Caruana, who started in fourth place, won the event, but as he noted, it very nearly happened! He summed up his thoughts afterward:
Magnus is losing and I was starting to get very serious winning chances, and I started to think maybe by some miracle, but Magnus somehow survived.
When Carlsen made a draw, the computer was showing a completely winning advantage for Caruana, which would mean the Norwegian claiming the title. In reality, however, the game was balanced on a knife-edge, and soon Caruana, thinking his opponent was escaping, went for what he called the trick of 47.f4?!, saying, “It’s very tempting what he goes for, and Nc3 is a bit of a surprise at the end.”
In fact, Caruana had two winning moves (but very tricky ones, involving unexpected resources and playing for checkmate down material), while the f4-push was only equal, but Gukesh fell for the brilliant sting in the tail and saw his hopes suddenly ended.
Absolute heartbreak for Gukesh as he’d rescued a draw against Caruana only to blunder at the very end!#NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/ruCepSQNEH
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 6, 2025
It was another example of just how brutal chess can be. Gukesh, who would otherwise have had a chance to catch Carlsen in armageddon and force a tiebreak for the title, just sat there, trying to come to terms with what had happened.
In pure chess terms, however, the mistakes by both players are entirely understandable, and it had been a great fight that deservedly left both players on the podium.
Gukesh had scored just 0.5/5 (in normal classical scoring) with the black pieces, but an amazing 4.5/5 with White, with the painful end only half the story of a tournament that also featured great highs.
Caruana regretted two bad days and felt he could have scored far more, though he reflected on his runner-up spot, “+1 isn’t a bad result if I don’t look at any of the positions I had!”
Carlsen, meanwhile, still had the unfinished business of an armageddon game against Arjun, with nothing at stake in terms of the tournament standings. The pawn structure that Howell described as “double connect-four” was a sign of the players having some fun, though in the end it was Arjun who had more of it, checkmating the champion.
Arjun Erigaisi gets to checkmate the 2025 #NorwayChess Champion! https://t.co/LOp8HQ2m5v pic.twitter.com/xhDM39g7CR
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 6, 2025
That changed little, however. While Carlsen termed his play in armageddon games “atrocious” this year, he was satisfied to finish on +2 in classical chess with three wins and one loss: “I’m happy with the fact that I managed to create a lot of chances, and I felt that I generally played the best chess, but stumbling over the finishing line and winning by half a point after a lot of results go my way doesn’t feel like [a statement.]”
I felt that I generally played the best chess.
—Magnus Carlsen
Carlsen said of finishing ahead of some stars, “I generally feel that I can outplay the kids, which feels good!” He felt that none of the current crop of elite youngsters looks ready to dominate, noting, “Gukesh showed in this tournament that he’s on track, he’s doing fantastic, but he’s maybe not way ahead of track, as we may have thought.” He extended that to the other stars:
Every single one of them has very, very clear flaws in their game, which you’re supposed to do at that time. Once-in-a-generation talents are once-in-a-generation talents for a reason—it’s not that easy!
Once-in-a-generation talents are once in a generation talents for a reason—it’s not that easy!
—Magnus Carlsen
One other player who could have entered the battle for first place was Nakamura, but it wasn’t quite to be.
Wei 1.5-1 Nakamura
Nakamura could challenge for the title only if he won his classical game, and while on the surface that never seemed close to happening, the U.S. star revealed afterward in his recap that at one point, “I started having the delusions of grandeur, thinking that I was about to win this game!”
Nakamura explained what he initially miscalculated after Wei’s 29.Rh1.
The armageddon in this matchup was completely overshadowed by the drama elsewhere, but Nakamura pointed out that there was something at stake—his tying Gukesh for third place. Wei, however, starred in armageddon, and despite not winning a single classical game has the bragging rights of saying he won all four mini-matches against the world numbers one and two!
Against Nakamura, it came down to two brilliant and mysterious moves in a row—they didn’t give a clear, objective advantage, but they were enough to bamboozle Nakamura, who called the first “an all-star move.”
So Nakamura finished a somewhat disappointing fourth, but otherwise had no complaints, since what mattered for him was classical chess and qualifying by rating for a final FIDE Candidates Tournament of his career: “This means I end the classical portion with a +1 score, I gain a couple of rating points, and I further cement my status as the world number-two player.”
I gain a couple of rating points and I further cement my status as the world number-two player.
—Hikaru Nakamura
Women: Muzychuk Wins, Runner-up Lei Leapfrogs Humpy
Muzychuk won the tournament, and Lei leapfrogged over Humpy on the final day to finish in second.
Norway Chess Women’s Final Standings
Muzychuk 1-1.5 Vaishali
By steering the classical game to a solid draw with the white pieces, Muzychuk guaranteed that she would finish in at least first place. Even if she lost the armageddon game, and Humpy won in classical, both would finish on 16.5 points.
The draw was the first game to end and the result was never in doubt, even if it took just over two hours.
In a must-win game with the white pieces, Muzychuk opted for a curious strategy: playing the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation and quickly trading queens. In a strategic battle, with most tactics extinguished, she hoped that her pawn majority on the kingside would generate a passed pawn, while Black’s counterplay on the queenside was less effective. Everything went according to plan after Vaishali, in the rook endgame, made the losing pawn push 25…g5?.
Still, rook endgames can be notoriously difficult to win, and with little time Muzychuk didn’t find the best continuation. Vaishali held the draw, even if she could have won at one point in the end.
A win would have guaranteed Muzychuk victory on the spot, while the draw meant that Humpy had a theoretical chance of catching the leader. At this point, however, Humpy had a pure opposite-color bishop endgame. Despite having the extra pawn, a draw was still the most likely result on the other board, and after less than half an hour, Muzychuk was crowned the champion of Norway Chess Women 2025.
👏 Congratulations to Anna Muzychuk, WINNER of #NorwayChess Women’s! She earns 700,000 NOK ($61,617)! pic.twitter.com/gWhnPXceCv
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 6, 2025
Even after gaining the title, Muzychuk said she was disappointed that she didn’t win the armageddon game. She told the main broadcast, “If this is not winning, then what is winning? But I did not win and somehow it made me sad.”
Still, she ranked this just under the world championship title. She said, “This is quite an important title because it’s one of the strongest women’s tournaments, if not the strongest, by rating.” The 2025 Cairns Cup, another stacked women’s tournament, starts next Tuesday in St. Louis, by the way. Humpy is the only player from this field participating, as will Muzychuk’s sister Mariya.
This is quite an important title because it’s one of the strongest women’s tournaments.
—Anna Muzychuk
The first person she called was, indeed, her sister; they also spoke between all the games. As for the most important game of the tournament, she said that it was most likely the Black win against Ju in round nine. That’s the win that brought her into the lead ahead of the last round.
Khadem 0-3 Lei
Lei finished as runner-up after defeating Khadem in a wild, 103-move game that started with the King’s Indian Defense. There were many twists, such as on move 39 when Lei could have trapped the white queen with a forcing line (she had five minutes). Later, even White missed a flat-out win with 48.f3!, but the position swung back to equality. In the end, Lei won with the bishop and three extra pawns against a rook.
GM Raymond Song, Lei’s second and husband, said that Lei will next focus on qualifying for the 2026 Women’s Candidates Tournament and will be preparing for the two qualifying events: the World Cup and Grand Swiss.
Humpy 1.5-1 Ju
The draw in the classical game between Humpy and Ju meant that the race for the title was over. Ju blundered a pawn early with 13…Bd5, but even after finding the pretty 14.Nxf6!, White had no advantage. Ju convincingly held the opposite-color bishop endgame.
Humpy still won the armageddon game, but it was only enough to take third place. After 18…Ne4? White won a pawn and, much later, the game.
Muzychuk rose to world number-six during this tournament, while Humpy dropped one place to world number-five. Despite losing 10 points, Ju is still the world number-two and remains almost 20 points ahead of number-three.
NM Anthony Levin contributed to this report.
How to rewatch?
Norway Chess 2025 featured Open and Women’s six-player tournaments for equal prize funds of 1,690,000 NOK (~$167,000). It ran May 26 to June 6 in Stavanger, with players facing their opponents twice at classical chess (120 minutes/40 moves, with a 10-second increment from move 41). The winner of a classical game got three points, the loser, zero; after a draw, the players got one point and fought for another half-point in armageddon (10 minutes for White, seven for Black, who got draw odds).
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