Firouzja Stuns Carlsen, Gukesh Escapes As Norway Chess Begins
GM Alireza Firouzja won his first classical game against world number-one GM Magnus Carlsen as Norway Chess 2026 got off to the most dramatic of starts. World Champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju also looked set to fall after losing his way in a wild time scramble against GM Vincent Keymer but escaped in 144 moves and won their mini-match in armageddon. There was also an armageddon win for GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu over GM Wesley So.
GM Bibisara Assaubayeva leads Women’s Norway Chess 2026 after defeating GM Koneru Humpy in a rollercoaster classical game. GM Zhu Jiner, making her debut this year, defeated defending champion GM Anna Muzychuk in armageddon, while GM Divya Deshmukh took down Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun in armageddon after escaping a lost position in classical chess.
- Norway Chess Round 1: Firouzja Powers Through Pain Barrier To Beat Carlsen
- Norway Women's Chess Round 1: Assaubayeva Grabs Early Lead
Round two starts Tuesday, May 26, at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST.
Firouzja and Assaubayeva scored three points for winning in classical chess, while Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Zhu, and Divya scored 1.5 for winning in armageddon.
Norway Chess Round 1 Results
The Norway Chess scoring system means the field is already spread out, but with nine rounds to go, and three points for a classical win, anything can happen!
Norway Chess Standings After Round 1
After 13 years in Stavanger, Norway Chess has moved to Oslo, with the Deichman Bjørvika public library providing the setting.
The format remains unchanged, and guarantees action. Two hours on the clock seems like a generous time allocation, but there's no time added per move until move 40, and then only 10 seconds is added, so that the players find themselves competing at rapid chess with their classical ratings at stake. A classical win is worth three points, while a draw gives each player a point, with an extra half-point decided in armageddon.
The prize funds for the Open and Women's tournaments are the same, with 700,000 NOK (around $76k) for first place in both events, while the lineups are familiar but with some twists.
With no GM Hikaru Nakamura this year, 35-year-old Carlsen finds himself the oldest player as he bids to win an eighth title in his home supertournament. He faces fierce opposition, including World Champion Gukesh and debutant Keymer, fresh from winning the Super Chess Classic Romania.
The Women's line-up features two players making their debut, women's world number-four Zhu, and 2025 Women's World Cup winner Divya.
Muzychuk is the defending champion, while Women's World Champion Ju is also looking to win a second title after winning the first ever Women's edition in 2024.
Norway Chess Round 1: Firouzja Powers Through Pain Barrier To Beat Carlsen
Firouzja 3-0 Carlsen
Carlsen went into this match-up after winning TePe Sigeman Chess, while Firouzja had suffered a week to forget. "I fell from the stage and twisted my ankle," he explained on our Norway Chess live show, and despite trying to play on from a hotel bed he withdrew from the Super Chess Classic in Bucharest after three losses, two draws, and no wins.
The biggest obstacle to playing in Norway was what he called a "very hard" three-hour flight, but after an MRI he got a doctor's approval to travel.
A chess travel crew is heading to Norway 🇳🇴👀
— Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) May 24, 2026
We are extremely happy to see Alireza Firouzja, making it to Norway Chess despite his ankle injury 💪
Everyone seems in great spirits and ready for what’s ahead.
Also huge congratulations to Vincent Keymer on winning the Super… pic.twitter.com/NsLGDXbRdo
The pain hasn't gone away, and Firouzja said, "Of course I lose more energy than in normal games," but he found a way to play in Oslo without the need to remain in bed.
Alireza Firouzja is ready for Round 1! #NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/DsNagQYyoU
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 25, 2026
He also found a way to beat the world number-one.
When Carlsen first came to the confessional he talked about the opening battle and concluded, "I think generally the margin is big enough in the openings that the most you will get in these positions is a bit worse." Later, however, he conceded he'd "severely underestimated" Firouzja's idea of Bf4-g3 and f4, which he called "pretty dangerous," explaining, "it seems so counterintuitive to move your bishop away to make way for the pawn."
He was down on the clock, and later down a pawn, but that wasn't the whole story. Firouzja noted Carlsen later "played very precise and the position was around equal," though he felt the extra pawn made his own position more comfortable to play.
Carlsen, meanwhile, pointed out he constantly had to make "unpleasant choices," and ultimately summed up the game in terms we're more used to hearing about his own opponents: "He gave me a lot of tests and in the end I failed. He doesn’t necessarily always find the best move, but he put me under a ton of pressure, and that’s kind of what you want to do!"
He doesn't necessarily always find the best move, but he put me under a ton of pressure, and that's kind of what you want to do!
—Magnus Carlsen on Alireza Firouzja
In the end it all came down to the position after 33.Qg4!. There was an extraordinary escape, starting with 33...Nxe3! and later sacrificing a queen, but two and a half minutes wasn't enough to find it. Instead, after failing to find any way out, Carlsen played 33...Kg8? and resigned shortly after.
Alireza Firouzja pulls off a stunning win over Magnus Carlsen after the world no. 1 missed an incredible chance to escape at the end! https://t.co/QJLbyNf5X4 pic.twitter.com/2jjwb9sydo
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 25, 2026
That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.
We almost saw the world champion join the world number-one on zero points.
Gukesh 1.5-1 Keymer
Gukesh gave an accurate description of the classical game, which turned into an epic 144-move battle: "The classical felt like it was a very good game by both for a pretty long time, and then the time scramble happened and there were a lot of blunders. I was winning, he was winning, but it was super-tiring to defend this queen endgame!"
The classical felt like it was a very good game by both for a pretty long time, and then the time scramble happened...
—Gukesh Dommaraju
Gukesh looked close to victory as the players passed move 40, but then completely lost control and landed in a queen endgame a pawn down. Watching GMs, including GM David Howell and Firouzja, considered it practically impossible to defend with so little time, and Keymer did soon gain a winning position. He maintained it for most of what followed, with Gukesh admitting his claim of a draw by the 50-move rule on move 133 was born of desperation: "I suddenly thought I’m losing, so then I thought, let me try my luck."
Gukesh was nine moves short, and his opponent was granted an extra two minutes on the clock, but the world champion commented, "luckily during that time I found a defense!"
Strictly speaking, it seems Keymer could still have won, by the finest of margins, but in the end, no progress was made until Gukesh could finally claim the draw correctly.
144 move and Gukesh escapes by correctly claiming a 50-move draw vs. Keymer at the 2nd attempt! Now they still have to play Armageddon: https://t.co/tiZJkA03eV pic.twitter.com/cyXcjpaEP1
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 25, 2026
After that mammoth game, the players still had to compete in armageddon, with Keymer commenting, "The last game that we played here the energy was gone and you could tell by the way I was playing."
Things ended fast, with Gukesh getting to unleash the beautiful shot 15.Bh6!!. There's no defense.
So a day when Gukesh flirted with disaster ended in a match win. The world champion was asked at the opening press conference how he'd respond to criticism of his play by former world champions. He replied:
I think it’s fair. I have not been performing well the last 1.5 years. Even I would say that my performance is way below expectations. They have the right to say what they feel, and I have the right to try and show my best. That’s what I’ll do.
This is how you handle criticism gracefully.
— _khamoshii_ (@_khamoshii_) May 25, 2026
Gukesh - "It's fair...even i would say the same that i haven't been performing well for the last 1 and half years.....They've the right to say what they feel and I've the right to try my best and do my job" pic.twitter.com/zKfYXUXtBa
Will Gukesh get back on track in a year when he's set to defend his world championship title in a match against GM Javokhir Sindarov?
Praggnanandhaa 1.5-1 So
When Praggnanandhaa was asked how he prepared for the armageddon game in this match, he replied, "Preparation was just regretting how I played in the classical, because there were some exciting options that I missed."
Praggnanandhaa could have tried 14.g4!?, or certainly 18.Be5!, though in either case beating a player of So's defensive class would have been tough.
Any lingering frustration about that game was soon dispelled by the armageddon, however, where Praggnanandhaa seized the initiative early on and launched a crushing attack, with only one small stumble along the way.
It was a similar story in the Women's event, with one game decided in classical chess.
Norway Women's Chess Round 1: Assaubayeva Grabs Early Lead
Humpy 0-3 Assaubayeva
Assaubayeva is accompanied by Sindarov in Oslo, and it seems success is infectious. She got off to a winning start in Oslo, summing up the encounter: "I think after the opening I had a very good position and then I had a big advantage, but somewhere I missed it, and then she had a little bit better position but in time trouble she blundered and I won."
For overall pressure, Assaubayeva deserved the win, but the finish was the definition of a one-move blunder. 45.Kg1! and the position is level, but 45.Kf3? was losing a queen by force. Humpy was down to 13 seconds at this point, and made her move with one second to spare.
That win saw Assaubayeva take over from Humpy as the world number-six on the Women's live rating list.
There were no more classical wins, though it was close.
Ju 1-1.5 Divya
Divya was the first player to use the confessional at this year's event ("Do I get a trophy or something?" she asked IM Jovanka Houska) and shared her fears about the women's world champion potentially pushing c5, and doubts about whether she could eat a packet of dried mango...
Divya: "I'm actually getting a bit hungry and there's a packet of dried mango kept on the table but I'm unsure if we can eat it, because it might be for promotional causes. I want to find that out, but I have no idea how! Right now I'm just waiting for her to make a move..." pic.twitter.com/91gxfB9b6h
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 25, 2026
The good news on the snack front was that more mango appeared in the lobby after her confessional, while on the board things seemed to go well, up to a point, before Ju took over and ultimately came incredibly close to winning. Moments before the players repeated moves for a draw, with both down to around a minute, Ju missed a final chance.
Divya called the armageddon that followed "quite a stressful game," but the Indian star was on top almost from start to finish. She missed some wins, but the only thing that seemed to be able to stop her was the clock. Divya was down to a few seconds while Ju had 30, but in the end a queen blunder decided the outcome of the game.
The final clash was perhaps the day's quietest.
Muzychuk 1-1.5 Zhu
The balance was never seriously disturbed in the classical game of this match, at least when Zhu correctly chose 13...Bf4! in a position where Howell said he'd choose 13...Bc7?! 100 times out of 100.
That meant a first experience of armageddon in Norway for Zhu, against the defending champion Muzychuk. In the end, however, it was Zhu who seemed the seasoned veteran of the format, confidently steering the game toward the draw she needed, even to the extent of taking a draw in a winning position.
So the Women's event began with three favorites losing, but there's a very long way to go.
In round two, Firouzja's early lead will be challenged by Praggnanandhaa, while Keymer will stand in the way of Carlsen gaining a bounce-back win. In the Women's event, leader Assaubayeva is Black against Zhu, Muzychuk vs. Ju is a clash of the two previous winners of the event, and Divya vs. Humpy will be an intriguing all-Indian showdown.
The live broadcast was hosted by IMs Tania Sachdev and Jovanka Houska, and GM David Howell.
Norway Chess 2026 features Open and Women's six-player tournaments for equal prize funds of 1,690,000 NOK (~$182k). It runs May 25 to June 5 in Oslo, 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 gets three points, the loser, zero; after a draw, the players get one point and fight for another half-point in armageddon (10 minutes for White, seven for Black, who has draw odds).
Previous coverage:
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
