Magnus Carlsen has now won half of the 10 editions of Norway Chess, and the last four in a row, after a nerve-wracking final day of the 2022 event. The World Champion was held to a draw by Veselin Topalov, so that Shakhriyar Mamedyarov would have won the title if he’d beaten his countryman Teimour Radjabov in classical chess. At one point that looked almost inevitable, but Teimour fought back to survive a bad position with no time on his clock. Vishy Anand took 3rd place ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 4th.
You can replay all the games from Norway Chess 2022 using the selector below.
And here’s the final day’s live commentary from Jan Gustafsson and Jovanka Houska.
The final round of Norway Chess would end up being the only one without a classical win, with all five match-ups decided in Armageddon.
Norway Chess has been a long, intense tournament, and it was understandable some of the players were happy just to get it over with. Wang Hao-So was the one match-up that couldn’t affect who won the tournament, and the classical game was drawn in just 28 moves and a little over an hour.
Wesley So had run out of steam by the end | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
The Armageddon turned on a single blunder when, in a winning position, Wang Hao played 32.Re2?
That allowed 32...Bd1! and Wesley went on to wrap up a comfortable win. It was a disappointing finish for the US Champion to an event he’d started with four match wins in a row, while Wang Hao finished last, though his seven draws and two losses in classical chess were respectable after a long break from the game.
Elsewhere some players had an outside chance of winning the tournament, but they had to win their classical game. Vishy Anand instead forced a 22-move draw against Aryan Tari, with the 5-time World Chess Champion’s hopes of the title essentially derailed by a one-move blunder the day before.
Aryan Tari was a late but popular addition to the event | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
Nevertheless, 52-year-old Vishy had been a revelation, winning 7 of his 9 mini-matches. He gave another glimpse of his form in the final Armageddon game, where he defended perfectly while playing at breakneck speed. He’s not just a mentor yet!
Vishy said he'd struggled to sleep after his blunder against Mamedyarov, adding:
In fact it was a pity, because if I had seen what I saw while my hand was still touching the queen I could still rotate the queen to f5, but I did everything perfectly. I even resigned, which afterwards it turns out was a slight mistake. If he had thought for 10 minutes he might have found it, but he might also just have made his move without thinking. Who knows! Anyway, it seems that I have to do this to myself at least once per tournament, and that’s what I do.
Aryan Tari could be proud of his tournament as well, however, since despite his last-minute invite and being the lowest rated player, he finished 8th, gaining 8.5 rating points.
It's been a grueling couple of weeks | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s title hopes ended in a draw against Anish Giri, but the Frenchman then scored a convincing win in Armageddon. 4th place and 5.4 rating points gained was an impressive performance by Maxime, but it could have been fantastic if he’d found one of the wins he missed against Magnus.
For Giri it was a decent performance, and if he ended on 50% in classical chess it wasn’t after quiet draws — no one played more decisive games that Anish’s four, with wins against Radjabov and Tari balanced by losses to Carlsen and Mamedyarov. Which brings us to…
Veselin Topalov was in no mood to give Magnus Carlsen an easy ride | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
Magnus Carlsen went into the final round of Norway Chess knowing that the one way he could be sure of winning his 5th title was to beat Veselin Topalov with the black pieces in classical chess. That was easier said than done, however, especially when the opening was less than thrilling.
Magnus would later sum up:
Yeah, it was tough! I had nothing much to hope for in my game. I was a bit worse and I was just trying to make a draw, and I thought Shakhriyar was going to win. It looked like he was just winning positionally, but I was lucky!
Magnus eventually made a draw, and when asked if he’d considered playing on earlier he commented, “I think I should take the draw with both hands!”
While the other encounter was still being fought out in classical chess it was time for Carlsen and Topalov to play their Armageddon, with Magnus knowing that winning it would ensure he won the title… if Mamedyarov-Radjabov was a draw.
At first Magnus, needing only a draw with the black pieces, seemed to be in complete control, but 24.b4! threatened to turn the tables.
Was Magnus worried?
I was too tired to be worried! I was just happy to have made a draw in the classical game and was just trying to hang on. I couldn’t think much at all. I was obviously a bit worried about my position, but… it was tough!
In the end, however, Magnus was just able to hold the balance.
Here 26…Rf6! was a stylish defensive resource, with the game soon fizzling out into a draw.
Magnus had done his job, but at the time it still looked as though it probably wouldn’t be enough.
Mamedyarov and Radjabov went for a real fight | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess
Azerbaijan friends Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Teimour Radjabov had last played a decisive classical game 12 years ago, but given the tournament situation we didn’t get any contentless draw. Instead the usually cautious Teimour went for a very dangerous opening line, and Shakh accepted the invitation to attack.
Here 15…c5! seems to be good for Black, while picking up the exchange with 15…c3?! 16.bxc3 Bxf1 was a mistake, giving White huge attacking chances for a minimal material investment. It looked a dream position for Shakh, and the other huge factor was the clock.
With no increment before move 40 in Stavanger, Teimour was in real danger of getting so low on time that he’d be physically unable to make his moves in time, especially given the complexity of the position.
Teimour began to respond brilliantly, however, here going for the sharp 26…Nxc3 rather than playing strictly for a draw with 26…Qxf3+. He found all the moves, even if Shakh had one last chance to complicate things near the end.
34.Bf5!, blocking the f-file and threatening Rh7+, winning the black queen, isn’t a killer blow, but it would have been incredibly tricky to face with a minute on your clock.
Magnus Carlsen said of Teimour's play:
I was massively impressed by the way Radjabov played in time trouble. Being down to one minute he played so well. I don’t know where he got the energy or the motivation from — that was pretty damn impressive!
Instead after 34.f3 Rh8 it seems Shakh accompanied 35.Qc3 with the offer of a draw. Both players had seen enough mayhem for one day, and Teimour accepted, making Magnus Carlsen the champion.
It was a case of so close yet so far for Shakhriyar, who had won three classical games and lost just one, to Magnus.
Teimour took the consolation of winning the final Armageddon game to avoid finishing in last place, but three losses and no wins in classical chess, dropping 15 rating points, was not the warm-up Teimour must have planned for the Candidates Tournament. If he performs well in Madrid, however, his tough time in Stavanger will soon be forgotten.
How did Magnus assess his tournament overall?
+3 is good, and winning on classical score rather than because I won Armageddon is quite satisfying. I think my play was pretty good for most of the tournament, and then I just completely ran out of steam at the end. I think in the end maybe the result is a little bit better than the performance, but for the first six rounds it was very good. As I said, the performance I think 2865 or 2864 is quite a bit higher than my average rating over the last seven years or so, so just keeping that level is good, but obviously if I want to make 2900 I’ve got to play the way that I played especially in rounds 3-6... I’ve got to play that way all the time, rather than just some of the time.
Magnus revealed that he’s not planning to play now until the Olympiad in late July, since he feels he needs a rest.
It’s not like I’ve been playing too much, but I feel like I’ve constantly been a little bit sick, lacking energy, for a while, and I was feeling ok during the tournament, but I think the lack of surplus energy kind of caught up with me at the end. So chesswise that will be the only important thing for me for the next 1.5 months or so, just to gain some energy before I’m playing again.
He ended with a quip:
But it’s always better to have a break after you caught a break!
So that’s all for Norway Chess 2022, but there’s no break in the chess coverage. There are currently top-level events taking place in Prague (Masters, Challengers) and in France (French Team Championship Pool A, Pool B) and it’s already under a week until the most anticipated event of all begins: the FIDE Candidates Tournament.
Magnus, whose mission, if he chooses to accept, is to play the winner in a World Championship match, commented:
I’ll be following the Candidates full-time for the next couple of weeks.
We’ll have live commentary from Judit Polgar and Jan Gustafsson here on chess24, with the action beginning at 15:00 CEST on Friday June 17th.
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