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Praggnanandhaa Wins Norway Chess With Stunning 4-Game Winning Streak

Praggnanandhaa Wins Norway Chess With Stunning 4-Game Winning Streak

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Colin_McGourty
| 90 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu is the Norway Chess 2026 champion after beating GM Vincent Keymer to complete an amazing run of four classical wins to end the tournament. GM Wesley So finished second after beating GM Alireza Firouzja in armageddon, and he would have taken the title if not for Praggnanandhaa's win. GM Magnus Carlsen ended a tough event on a high by completing a classical double over World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju to move above Keymer into fourth place.

GM Bibisara Assaubayeva won Norway Chess Women 2026 on Thursday with a round to spare, but that didn't mean the players took it easy on the final day. All three classical games were decisive, with GM Zhu Jiner finishing second (with a win over GM Koneru Humpy) and GM Anna Muzychuk in third (with a win over GM Divya Deshmukh). Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun came fourth with a win against the tournament's winner.

All but one match was decided in classical chess in the final round. If So had won his classical game, he would have taken the title instead of Praggnanandhaa, but he managed to win only in armageddon.  

Norway Chess Round 10 Results

Praggnanandhaa's incredible 12/12 point finish saw him clinch the title a point ahead of So, with Firouzja third. Carlsen's final-round win saw him climb to fourth place. 

Assaubayeva had clinched the title with a round to spare, while Zhu's third classical win in a row took her up to second place.

Norway Chess Final Standings

Norway Chess Round 10: Praggnanandhaa Storms To Norway Chess Title

Praggnanandhaa 3-0 Keymer

It's astonishing to recall that after losing to So in round six, Praggnanandhaa found himself in last place, a full 5.5 points behind the leader. 

Unsurprisingly, Praggnanandhaa said he wasn't thinking about winning the tournament back then: "I just wanted to play chess, but somehow things all went my way, and I also feel that I started playing with more control, which in this time control is always a good thing."

Praggnanandhaa told Jovanka and Tania about how his tournament had been transformed. Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

He aimed to play faster, but also had the belief of his mother:

I was speaking to my mother on June 1, before Alireza’s game, and she was telling me, 'It’s a new month, you’ll play well!' It’s just one of those things that mum always says, and then these four games I won. She knew something, I guess!

I was speaking to my mother on June 1, before Alireza's game, and she was telling me, 'It's a new month, you'll play well!'  

—Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

What followed was remarkable, with Firouzja, Carlsen, Gukesh, and Keymer falling like skittles.

Carlsen, when learning who had won the tournament and how, reacted in shock:

That’s pretty insane! That’s as clutch as it gets, and it just shows that it would have been possible for me as well with a similar finish, but yeah, that’s incredible. It shows you the volatility of the system, and he is an incredible fighter, and it’s fun to see him get rewarded for that.

He is an incredible fighter, and it's fun to see him get rewarded for that.

—Magnus Carlsen on Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

Praggnanandhaa beat Carlsen in both their classical games, while in the final round the player standing in his path was Keymer, who went into the game unbeaten in classical chess.

The early stages of the game were notable for both players visiting the confessional, with Keymer doing so for the first time.

"The game today is kind of what we expected—Pragg was interested in a big fight, he got that!" said the German number-one, who nevertheless felt his position was fine.

Praggnanandhaa said on his first appearance, "We have all pieces on the board, so it should lead to a lot of fight in the middlegame," while on the second, he admitted he'd overlooked a solid move by his opponent.

He still felt he could push, however, and the pressure suddenly bore dividends when, in a close-to-level endgame, Keymer went astray in the space of a few moves. 30...h5?, leaving a gaping hole on g5, was the last straw.

31.Rb8+! Kh7 32.Nef3! and Praggnanandhaa was winning by force. His conversion was flawless, even if he confessed that in the latter stages, "I couldn’t think anymore—I was just making moves with my hand!"

That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes in full below.

The win sees Praggnanandhaa cross back above 2750 after a turbulent 10 months, of which he commented, "Something just didn't go my way at all—I was 2790 or something, then dropped down to like 2730." 

The moment Praggnanandhaa won the title. Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

Praggnanandhaa has also been trying to come to terms with the FIDE Candidates Tournament going badly for him after focusing on it for two years. He said his sister GM Vaishali Rameshbabu winning cushioned the blow, and that now, "I decided I don’t want to think about the next Candidates already at this point—I just want to chill and enjoy the games, and that’s what I’m doing." 

I don't want to think about the next Candidates already at this point—I just want to chill and enjoy the games!

—Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

Praggnanandhaa continues to inspire an army of fans! Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

So far, it seems to be working! 

Firouzja 1-1.5 Wesley So

Alireza Firouzja can finally recover from his ankle injury without any spotlight. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Going into the final round, So was the one player with his fate fully in his own hands, since a classical win would make him uncatchable. That Firouzja needed to win on demand to have a chance at the title himself meant a fight was guaranteed, though So didn't feel he had to go all-out. He said in a pre-game interview that Praggnanandhaa had done the impossible already, but that winning a fourth classical game in a row would be even more impossible!   

Keymer summed up the opening of Firouzja-So with, "Alireza is doing some fancy business, basically playing some sort of reversed Italian, which I guess also means that he’s in a very fighting mood."

Firouzja accepted a position that the computer assessed as slightly worse in return for some attacking chances, though they never quite materialized. Perhaps a risky f4-pawn push would have offered more chances, since his more standard approach only led to an agreed draw on move 31.

Either Firouzja or So had looked likely to win Norway Chess 2026, but Praggnanandhaa's late run blew them both away. Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

If Praggnanandhaa had drawn his classical game, the armageddon between So and Firouzja would have been incredibly important—a win for So would guarantee him the title, while a draw would allow Praggnanandhaa to force a playoff for the title with an armageddon win of his own.

As it happened, however, Praggnanandhaa's win was in little doubt as the armageddon began, and a convincing win for So, who was never worse with the black pieces, made no difference to So taking second and Firouzja third place.

So was happy with his +2 score in classical chess and said, "If we had to start the tournament again, I would take this any time of the day," though he admitted being disappointed at coming so close to winning his first Norway Chess title.

The U.S. star praised Praggnanandhaa's fighting spirit that made the comeback possible, before concluding: 

Five days ago I would give a 0.1% chance that he would win four in a row, but it happened, it’s crazy! I’m not sure how I could have done it better. I think I’ve gotten the maximum points I could get from this tournament, and there’s nothing really Firouzja and I could do. I guess I could go crazy in the last game, but that’s just not who I am. 

I think I've gotten the maximum points I could get from this tournament.

—Wesley So

So felt he'd done all he could. Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

The remaining classical game featured two players who definitely hadn't gotten the maximum they could in Oslo this year.

Carlsen 3-0 Gukesh

Before this game, both the world number-one and the world champion had lost four classical games each. Carlsen was asked beforehand if playing Gukesh had extra significance for him, but responded, "It’s a pretty meaningless game," before adding, "He’s had a tough event—I don’t have any particular desire to inflict more pain on him, but we’ll see."

Carlsen beating Gukesh 2-0 would only be a consolation this year. Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

Gukesh needed to win the classical game with the black pieces to avoid last place, and opened with the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6), sending Carlsen into a six-minute think before responding with 2.c4. Soon the game was following a win for 18-year-old Carlsen against GM Jan Smeets from Wijk aan Zee 2009. In a confessional appearance, Carlsen called it "another episode of old-man chess," since Gukesh would have been a toddler at the time! 

Carlsen explained, "This is right before I started working with Garry [Kasparov], and I was kind of preparing on my own, and my prep was kind of xxxx, to be honest!" He said there were many ways to equalize and "the problems that I’m setting are pretty marginal," but in fact the game followed that earlier game for 16 moves.

Carlsen didn't remember his earlier 17.Bh6, but 17.Rad1 was perhaps an improvement, and soon he was doing very well. The key moments came, however, in the endgame, when Carlsen explained: 

I think he made a couple of lackadaisical decisions; for instance, giving up a pawn with 26...Nxd4? was unnecessary. Yes, his position would be unpleasant regardless, but it didn’t have to be that bad. But I assume he was not in a mood to defend to the best of his ability today. I think he was kind of fed up with the whole thing. 

If Gukesh wasn't fed up before the game started, he no doubt was by the end. Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

The only issue was Carlsen's clock, and he commented, "To get into this incredible time pressure every time is not necessary." He had three minutes against Gukesh's 42 minutes on move 31, but went on to win the endgame in style. Unlike in 2025, there was no miss and table slam but instead a convincing 2-0 clean sweep of the world champion.

"It's better than fifth!" is how Carlsen reacted when he realized he'd climbed above Keymer into fourth place, while for Gukesh it was last place and more food for thought in a year when he'll defend his world championship title. Carlsen actually lost more rating points, 17.8 compared to 14.8, but he's approaching 15 years unbroken as world number-one, while Gukesh finds himself outside the world top-25 on the live rating list. 

Carlsen is still the number-one, but for once he had a less than convincing tournament. Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

Praggnanandhaa is the biggest climber, however, in an event where he lost three games but won five.

In the Women's event, meanwhile, it was all about second place.

Norway Chess Women Round 10: White Wins All 3 Classical Games

Muzychuk built up a huge advantage from the opening, but the other two games were slow-burners. For most of the day, it would have been hard to believe that we'd see three decisive classical games.

Muzychuk 3-0 Divya

Muzychuk did what she could, but it wasn't enough for second. Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

Just as Carlsen recalled his game from Wijk aan Zee 2009, the game between Muzychuk and Divya sent commentator GM David Howell down memory lane to the same tournament, but in Group C, where he played (in his opinion) one of his best games ever. In that game, Black played 13...h6 and lost a miniature; 16.Bxh6!! led to a shining brilliancy. "Those are the days when I used to attack," Howell reminisced.

Muzychuk won an equally crushing game, even if it lasted much longer. Shortly after Howell shared that story, things started to go south for Divya, and from the opening she never quite got into the game. The Alapin Sicilian has some punch!

That could have meant a second-place finish for Muzychuk, if only Zhu hadn't won her game too. 

Zhu 3-0 Humpy

Since losing in round seven against Assaubayeva, the Chinese grandmaster finished the tournament by winning all three remaining games. She reached an equal endgame where, playing with the queen and knight combination, she was pressing against queen and bishop.

Zhu won a clutch game in the final round. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

But what it really came down to was time; by move 34, Humpy had just two minutes against 42, and she collapsed as the only player in time trouble. Still, the conversion was extremely nervy, and Black had several chances to hold, but no time to find them.

Ju 3-0 Assaubayeva 

The world champion finished on a high note. Photo: Michal Walusza/Norway Chess.

Credit goes to Assaubayeva, since even after winning the tournament the day before, she stuck to the King's Indian Defense with Black in the final round. She equalized convincingly, and the game went into an opposite-color bishop endgame with one rook for each side—White was up a pawn, but it should be held without too much trouble. It seemed Black had already reached the drawing construction, more or less, but a single pawn move shockingly lost the game.

That's it for our coverage of Norway Chess 2026—we hope you enjoyed the show!

NM Anthony Levin contributed to this report.

How to rewatch?
You can rewatch Norway Chess 2026 on the Chess24 YouTube and Twitch channels. The games can also be followed from our events page: Open | Women.

The live broadcast was hosted by IMs Tania Sachdev and Jovanka Houska, and GM David Howell.

Norway Chess 2026 featured Open and Women's six-player tournaments for equal prize funds of 1,690,000 NOK (~$182k). It ran 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 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 has draw odds). 

Previous coverage:

Avatar of Colin_McGourty
Colin McGourty

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.

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