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Norway Chess (2016) Background This was the fourth iteration of this event, which was first staged in 2013. It was part of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) in 2015, but withdrew from that series till further notice. Karjakin won the first two events in 2013 and 2014, but was unable to participate in 2015 due to not being in the GCT. Veselin Topalov won in 2015. Year 2016 had Altibox as new main sponsor. When Played from 19 April 2016 until 29 April 2016. The preliminary blitz tournament Norway Chess (Blitz) (2016) that determined starting colors was played on 18 April. That event was won by Carlsen with 7.5/9, his only loss being the last round game with Giri. Where The Category XXI (2770) tournament was played in the city of Stavanger in Norway. The first six rounds were staged in the Stavanger Forum, while the final three rounds were held in the Stavanger Concert Hall. Format The tournament was a round robin featuring ten players and therefore nine rounds. Sofia rules applied, with no draw offers allowed. Chief arbiter: Karl-Johan Rist. Time control The time control was 100 minutes for 40 moves plus 50 minutes for 20 moves plus 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move 61. Tiebreaks 1. Sonneborn-Berger 2. Most wins 3. Most wins with black 4. Drawing of lots A tie for first place would be determined by blitz playoff(s). Comments There was some uncertainty if Eljanov would have a rating for this tournament due to the suspension of Ukraine by FIDE because of monetary arrears. However, the Ukrainian ratings were to be nullified with effect from the next rating period starting 1 May 2016, after the tournament ended and so Eljanov's current (April 2016) rating stood for the duration of the event. Carlsen led for most of the event until round 8 when he lost to Aronian to allow the latter to draw level with 5/8. The last round saw Carlsen defeat Eljanov and Aronian draw with Harikrishna enabling Carlsen to win Norway Chess for the first time. Stavanger, Norway, 19-29 April 2016 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 Carlsen 2851 * 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 6 2 Aronian 2784 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 5½ 3 Vachier-Lagrave 2788 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 5 4 Topalov 2754 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5 5 Kramnik 2801 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 5 6 Li Chao 2755 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 ½ 4½ 7 Harikrishna 2763 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 * 1 ½ ½ 4½ 8 Giri 2790 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * 1 ½ 4 9 Eljanov 2765 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * 1 3 10 Grandelius 2649 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * 2½ Official site: https://norwaychess.no/arkiv-2016/ Regulations: http://norwaychess.no/en/reglement/ Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/news/view/mag... ChessBase: https://en.chessbase.com/post/carls... chess24: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-t... TWIC: http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews... FIDE: https://ratings.fide.com/tournament... Wikipedia article: Norway Chess#2016 Previous: Norway Chess (2015). Next: Norway Chess (2017). Opening Blitz tournament: Norway Chess (Blitz) (2016)  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Kramnik vs N Grandelius 1-0 39 2016 Norway Chess D02 Queen's Pawn Game 2. Carlsen vs Harikrishna 1-0 41 2016 Norway Chess E15 Queen's Indian 3. Aronian vs Topalov ½-½ 46 2016 Norway Chess A29 English, Four Knights, Kingside Fianchetto 4. Vachier-Lagrave vs C Li ½-½ 37 2016 Norway Chess C42 Petrov Defense 5. Giri vs Eljanov 1-0 36 2016 Norway Chess C50 Giuoco Piano 6. Topalov vs Carlsen ½-½ 29 2016 Norway Chess D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 7. Giri vs Vachier-Lagrave 0-1 28 2016 Norway Chess B96 Sicilian, Najdorf 8. N Grandelius vs Aronian ½-½ 32 2016 Norway Chess C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 9. C Li vs Kramnik ½-½ 42 2016 Norway Chess C26 Vienna 10. Eljanov vs Harikrishna   ½-½ 45 2016 Norway Chess E20 Nimzo-Indian 11. Kramnik vs Giri ½-½ 59 2016 Norway Chess D78 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O c6 12. Vachier-Lagrave vs Eljanov ½-½ 52 2016 Norway Chess C67 Ruy Lopez 13. Aronian vs C Li   ½-½ 40 2016 Norway Chess D15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 14. Harikrishna vs Topalov   ½-½ 23 2016 Norway Chess E53 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 15. Carlsen vs N Grandelius 1-0 38 2016 Norway Chess B29 Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rubinstein 16. C Li vs Carlsen ½-½ 37 2016 Norway Chess D14 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation 17. Eljanov vs Topalov ½-½ 39 2016 Norway Chess D59 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower 18. Giri vs Aronian ½-½ 49 2016 Norway Chess D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 19. N Grandelius vs Harikrishna ½-½ 45 2016 Norway Chess C11 French 20. Vachier-Lagrave vs Kramnik ½-½ 60 2016 Norway Chess C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 21. Carlsen vs Giri ½-½ 48 2016 Norway Chess C77 Ruy Lopez 22. Kramnik vs Eljanov   ½-½ 43 2016 Norway Chess C53 Giuoco Piano 23. Harikrishna vs C Li 1-0 42 2016 Norway Chess D70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense 24. Aronian vs Vachier-Lagrave   ½-½ 38 2016 Norway Chess D14 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation 25. Topalov vs N Grandelius 1-0 42 2016 Norway Chess C78 Ruy Lopez  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 20 OF 20 ·  Later Kibitzing> Apr-30-16    Bobwhoosta: <perfidious> Ok, I didn't look down far enough. His results from '78 to '86 are pretty astounding. And yes, I have great respect for his play. As a positional player myself( I started as a young Tal without the ability) I find Karpov's style to be simple and beautiful. I remember a game where until near the end of the game he only exchanged a single pawn, and then he exchanged a piece or two and his opponent resigned. He had such a dominating position the game was over before the tactics even started!!!! So don't misunderstand my statement as my not having a respect of Karpov, and in fact I was confused as to his record when I first glanced at the page- thinking I had gone down far enough when really I hadn't. That streak from '78 to '86 is really amazing. May-01-16    perfidious: <Bobwhoosta> Might Karpov vs Unzicker, 1974 be the game you have in mind? May-01-16    activechess55: Norway organizers scripted the following song to celebrate the victory : Local blue-eyed boy has won, after ages, Our joy knows no bound, in our heart-cages; The local boy also plays at home, without slippage; The event holds at home, without change. Where is the jinx now , go rummage; Let the theory sink, without outrage. Local blue-eyed boy has won, after ages; Our joy knows no bound, in our heart-cages. These guys come in abundance, for voyage; Generous souls let local boy win, without challenge. They never complain about losses, with courage; Our thanks to bottom feeders, that’s our language. Local blue-eyed boy has won, after ages; Our joy knows no bound, in our heart-cages. He is not there to upset the apple cart, in a stoppage; He is not there to play the spoil sport, with a blockage . Absent is the tourist from Moscow, with advantage; Thanks to inventor who invented the word ‘preparation, in a homage. Local blue-eyed boy has won, after ages; Our joy knows no bound, in our heart-cages. May-01-16    activechess55: The Berlin Institute of Solid Defenses has awarded a badge of honor to MVL for restoring the faith in and maintaining the reputation of the 'Berlin Defense'. Restoring the faith because he played the Berlin when everybody had appeared to have deserted it ! Maintaining the reputation because because he drew all his three games ! They noted that his achievements were all the more commendable since he'd white in all three cases ! May-01-16    Eyal: <Everett> When I mentioned shared firsts I was referring to the period following the rise of the Anand-Ivanchuk-Kramnik-Topalov generation; but yeah - Kasparov had several shared firsts during his 80s streak as well - one with Psakhis, as already noted by <perfidious>, two with Karpov and two with Ljubo. And indeed, Karpov also won a ridiculous number of tournaments - according to my count it's 43 during a nearly identical period (71-96; for Kasparov it's 81-05). I would note, however, that 1.Whereas nearly all the tournaments won by Kasparov would count as super-tournaments by today's standards, many of those won by Karpov during the 70s wouldn't quite (usually they included a larger percentage of relatively weak local players and fewer elite players - not his "fault," of course, that's how tournaments were typically organized then); and 2.His overall winning percentage is very far from Kasparov's 80% (41/51); if we isolate the period between 71 and 85, however, he comes close - 26/34 (76%) May-01-16    Absentee: <activechess55> Actually, Carlsen has brown eyes... May-01-16    keypusher: <activechess55> You're no <not not>. May-01-16    activechess55: <Absentee:> Actually, Carlsen has brown eyes... Thanks for the factual information. Idiomatically in linguistic parlance, blue-eyed means a very dear one. <keypusher:> <activechess55> You're no <not not>. As you can see many of my posts are jokes. And jokes are not meant to be taken seriously. May-01-16    Sally Simpson: I'm sometimes scared to come one here fearing, and also wondering, what the lads are arguing about today. Todays it's the colour of Carlsen's eyes. I did some research. The Daily Mail, 25 November 2013. "With his tall, broad statue and piercing brown eyes...." Kasparov has numerous eyes, he is either the 'The monster with 21 eyes from Baku' or a '"monster with a thousand eyes who sees all." Richard Teichmann, nicknamed "Richard the Fifth"...because he had 5 eyes? No. He had only one eye. (colour unknown.) May-01-16    moronovich: <Richard Teichmann, nicknamed "Richard the Fifth"...because he had 5 eyes?> He got his nickname because he often ended up # 5 in tournaments. May-01-16    activechess55: <Sally Simpson:> Kasparov had 21 eyes. So, Fabio and Naka had hoped that, with age, they might have diminished. But judging from Kaspy's blitz performance, that's not the case ! May-01-16    Bobwhoosta: <perfidious> That's exactly the game. It and others like it made quite and impression on me. I'm trying to get my son interested in going through GM games. He's only 7 but we're going to work through Seirawan's Winning Chess Brilliancies when I have the time and energy for it. After that I think I'll show him some tactical players, and then maybe transition into the likes of Karpov, Botvinnik, Smyslov, and Petrosian. May-01-16    jphamlore: Tomashevsky in the Russian Men Team Championship as Black against Artemiev just played a game worthy of a modern version of Chernev's Logical Chess: Move by Move, even winning as Black against a (transposed) Giuoco Piano. May-01-16    jphamlore: Everything I have read about how to develop chess prodigies seems unanimous on their having the gifts of focus and concentration, of being able to teach themselves the game. Magnus Carlsen apparently showed little interest in chess until one day he suddenly did have it, and then he was off to the races devouring everything about the game. Everything I have read also seems fairly unanimous that the right way is to start first with chess puzzles, not full games. And then the true nature of the chess prodigy takes over when the kid by himself works out endgames playing within the rules. I have read this about Capablanca, who had been given a book of endgames as one of his few early formal resources, about Smyslov, and I suspect about Carlsen as well. For the vast majority who regard learning endgames as work and something maybe to be done later to grudgingly improve one's game, there will be no chance of a future world champion. For the blessed few who innately regard learning endgames as fun and play, from these might arise a future champion. May-01-16    jphamlore: Also I would hope it is fairly common knowledge by now that many great players from the former Soviet Union credit Averbakh and Beilin's <Journey to the Chess Kingdom> as their first successful chess book, and this book has now been translated into English. To show the nature of either having the gift or not having it, Boris Gelfand's father was under the impression that Boris Gelfand was not interested in chess, but he couldn't have been more wrong: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2... <Gelfand: There’s a wonderful children’s textbook, probably the best in history – “Journey to the Chess Kingdom”. My dad, who really loved the game, began to go through a diagram a day with me. One evening I told him that I wanted to study something else. Well, he thought the boy had cooled towards the chessboard and pieces. He told my mum that chess hadn’t interested Boris. My dad couldn’t even imagine that I’d gulped down the whole book in one day and therefore wanted something new.> May-01-16    jared10001: Carlsen wins his first-ever Norway Chess event, and my big bet on him paid off. Just came in 2nd place overall for the championship leg of Chessbookie. May-02-16    Jambow: <Kasparov was beaten convincingly by Kramnik in their World Championship match.> Much less so than Carlsen vs. Anand and in their over all score Kasparov has the edge. So yes Kramnik knew what it took to win against Kasparov, just barely and yet he couldn't come close to dominating the entire field like Carlsen has. Kramnik deserves his due, but he falls behind Magnus's accomplishments already and I suspect the void will only increase. Kasparov has a better over all legacy than Kramnik and I would argue at this point than Magnus too. I like a dominant champ Magnus is that champ. Anand had been for a spell, but was just one of the elite for a good while and Magnus was already clearly the stronger player for a time. Yet Vishy held the title to long through no fault of his own, it was FIDE's inability to conduct a valid selection process that was to blame. May-02-16    jphamlore: So is Karjakin going to play in the 3rd annual Gashimov Memorial May 26 - June 4? http://www.chessdom.com/3rd-vugar-g... Supposedly in this list of participants, as of April 16, are players Giri, Eljanov, and Harikrishna who competed at Norway. May-02-16    MissScarlett: Yes, he is. May-02-16    Sokrates: Kramnik-Kasparov. Convincingly beaten? On a psychological level: absolutely. Chesswise, I am not that sure. I think the Berlin somehow staggered Kasparov mentally. He so much wanted to prove Kramnik wrong in that opening that he kept trying stubbornly instead of switching to something else and let Kramnik have that "victory". While Kramnik's victory over Kasparov cannot be questioned, his reign as a champ wasn't exactly triumphant - and certainly not in the same league as his predecessors, the two K's. In my - admittedly very subjective - opinion, Kramnik's star will fade in comparison with K, K, Anand, and Carlsen. May-02-16    Creg: <chancho: <Creg> Maybe this one can be of use to you: http://www.chessfocus.com/> Thanks chancho. That's the best I've seen by far. May-03-16    thegoodanarchist: <Pedro Fernandez: <<diceman>: In the world of 3 letter results: Lev beats Mag.> You meant: Lev def Mag.> Everyone on board the Mag - Lev train. May-10-16    morfishine: <john barleycorn> On this ignorant comment: <now, morfishine that you made it a premium member through courtesy of <Mark> you should try to display appropriate behaviour and/or intelligence. Stop being a poor little fool> The next time you want to open your fat mouth and spew your vomit, you may want to do your homework first. I've been a premium member here long before your pathetic self wandered in. Stick to the Rogoff pages, thats more your speed Sorry for the slow reply, but there's just so many imbeciles to attend to ***** May-10-16    john barleycorn: ***** <morfishine: ... Sorry for the slow reply, but there's just so many imbeciles to attend to *****> Take good care of yourself. ***** Jun-22-16    siamesedream: <Magnus Carlsen's blog: Last time I blogged with three rounds left of Norway Chess in Stavanger, and the finish turned out to be both exciting and successful for me. Maybe playing on home turf takes more energy. Anyhow, for some reason I was not in good shape in round 7 and 8. In round 7 I got the chance to play a novelty by Hammer against Kramnik. He didn’t find the best defense, and already after some 15 moves the rest was plain sailing for me. Not so in round 8. Aronian played an interesting variation as white and showed the creative style he is capable of. I did not respond well. I lost a pawn in the middle game, and short on time I blundered away the rest, having missed a mate threat down the line. Against Eljanov in the last round, I needed to win, and fortunately I felt in good shape and very optimistic. I managed to gradually outplay him to secure my first Norway Chess victory! Once again I like to thank the organizer for this great elite event in Stavanger.> https://www.arctic.com/secno/magnus... Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 20) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 20 OF 20 ·  Later Kibitzing> NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. 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