World number-one Magnus Carlsen leads World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju by half a point going into the final round of Norway Chess 2025 after both stars won their classical games in round nine. Carlsen sacrificed a pawn against GM Fabiano Caruana but ultimately converted an extra pawn in the endgame. Gukesh took big risks in the opening against GM Wei Yi but turned it all around again to win in style. GM Hikaru Nakamura took a classical draw against GM Arjun Erigaisi before winning smoothly in armageddon.
All three classical games in Women’s Norway Chess 2025 ended decisively and with a major shakeup in the standings. GM Anna Muzychuk beat Women’s World Champion GM Ju Wenjun to take a two-point lead. The former leader GM Koneru Humpy achieved a winning position against GM Lei Tingjie but blundered and lost a piece, leaving her in second. IM Sara Khadem won her second classical game of the event, against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu.
Round 10 starts Friday, June 6, at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST.
Norway Chess Round 9 Results
No less than five of the six classical games were decisive in the penultimate round.
Open: Carlsen, Gukesh Strike Before Final Day
With the top-three only separated by two points, the final round of Norway Chess is set to be a thriller.
Norway Chess Standings After Round 9
Carlsen 3-0 Caruana
Carlsen vs. Caruana has been perhaps the biggest rivalry in chess for a decade, but the world number-one felt his opponent wasn’t quite at the races in round nine. “I felt that his play was not very inspired most of the time—it didn’t feel like he quite had it,” he explained on the Chess.com broadcast.
Carlsen went for a pawn sacrifice in the Catalan, championed by his former second, GM Daniil Dubov, and went to the confessional to describe it as “a moderate success” when Caruana didn’t respond in the most forceful manner.
Magnus is curious what Fabi has in mind, but sums up: “Overall it’s been a moderate success so far!” #NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/TTRamvi1Dy
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 5, 2025
Another second, Caruana’s helper GM Aryan Tari, labelled it “scary stuff,” which they had looked at but not for this game.
Carlsen went from a pawn down to a pawn up, and was surprised when his opponent defended passively with 29…Rc8.
Carlsen would later comment, “Rc8 was weird. I thought he can just stay active and I didn’t see how I was going to win.”
More puzzling moments would follow, until Caruana grabbed a poisoned pawn on h5 and was suddenly lost, as White’s c- and e-pawns combined into an unstoppable force.
Gukesh and Carlsen win within seconds of each other, with Magnus going into tomorrow’s final round with only a half-point lead over Gukesh! #NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/aWB4nviIqG
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 5, 2025
That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Dejan Bojkov has analyzed below.
Anyone else would be thrilled to beat such a formidable opponent so smoothly, but Carlsen was relatively downbeat, explaining of his loss to Gukesh, “The dream of playing a really good tournament burst with that game.”
The dream of playing a really good tournament burst with that game.
—Carlsen on his loss to Gukesh
GM David Howell asked Carlsen, “You wouldn’t see it as redemption for that game, winning the tournament?” and he responded:
No, I know that I can play. There is no doubt about that. I just wanted a score that reflects the fact that I think I’m still significantly better at chess, and since I couldn’t achieve that, a potential win in the tournament would not mean as much.
Carlsen on losing to Gukesh: “The dream of playing a really good tournament burst with that game… I wanted a score that reflects the fact I think I’m still significantly better at chess & since I couldn’t achieve that, a potential win of the tournament would not mean as much” pic.twitter.com/QBxBBuikdV
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 5, 2025
Carlsen was asked a viewer question about the chances of Nakamura winning the title if he won the Candidates, and responded:
I think if Hikaru, or Fabi, or probably Nepo for that matter, win the Candidates at the moment, they would be a favorite in a match against Gukesh. Hikaru’s come close twice, and he’s still extremely good, so there’s no reason why he couldn’t.
I think if Hikaru, or Fabi, or probably Nepo for that matter win the Candidates at the moment they would be a favorite in a match against Gukesh.
—Magnus Carlsen
Gukesh, meanwhile, is only half a point behind Carlsen going into the final round after another dramatic win.
Gukesh 3-0 Wei
Wei played the rock-solid Petroff in this game, but had our commentators fearing he’d stumbled into world championship preparation when Gukesh went for what he called the “rare move” 8.Qd3, and then shuffled the queen to c4.
It would later move to f4, with Gukesh later noting his opponent “was not aware of the details” and that the position was “already quite pleasant for White.”
The world champion’s youthful optimism is a great weapon, as we saw a little later in the position after 16.g5?! f4!, which Gukesh assessed as “maybe still holdable for Black somehow,” while the computer gave it as borderline lost for White.
It’s rare to see such a stark disagreement in evaluation between a top player and the computer, although perhaps Gukesh’s almost unique approach in his youth of not working with a computer helps him focus on practical chances rather than evaluations. When Wei failed to put his knight on e4 or save his light-squared bishop from being exchanged, the position improved for White, until the Chinese star went for a brilliancy that had a fatal flaw.
After 24…Nxd2? 25.Bxh7+! Gukesh said “it was just over,” though to prove that, you had to find a series of brilliant only moves, which is just what Gukesh did.
Gukesh trails Carlsen by half a point, and commented, “It’s great always to go against Magnus and right now I’m happy with the game that I played today.”
Carlsen’s slamming of the board while losing to Gukesh has already made its way around the world, while Gukesh’s reaction was memorable enough for the French soccer team Paris Saint-Germain to use it after winning the Champions League.
What it felt like winning our first UCL ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/uNajUVPe33
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) June 4, 2025
Asked about the memes, Gukesh commented:
It’s nice for chess. It’s not only about the moves. Some people get attracted to the emotions, to all these memes and stuff. It really helps. Glad I could contribute!
One more player, Nakamura, is still in contention for first place, but he could easily have been closer.
Nakamura 1.5-1 Arjun
Arjun blitzed out a hyper-sharp line against the Alapin Sicilian, leaving his h7-pawn en prise as early as move 12. After 14…Bd7!? Nakamura came to the confessional to discuss his decision not to grab the pawn.
Nakamura: “I spent a lot of time considering Bxh7 — it’s a situation where either it’s probably completely winning for me or it’s completely losing for me, and it’s kind of just not what I was in the mood to go for!” #NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/mnUS3Y6FZ1
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 5, 2025
In fact, although Nakamura regretted not going for it, the move was probably neither completely winning nor losing, with Arjun’s suggested 15…Qa5 after White grabs the pawn seemingly giving some counterplay.
The way play developed, Black seemed in any case to be in dire trouble, with Howell going as far as to say Arjun himself would beat anyone in the world from the white side of the position.
David Howell lists all the rules broken by Arjun Erigaisi, and sums up: “He’s hating life! He would love this position with White—he would beat anyone in the world if he had the white pieces, he would just crush them”#NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/OYSp0bHsp3
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 5, 2025
As it happened, however, one shaky move, 19.Qf2?, and suddenly White was no better, so that Nakamura felt his instincts had been right to make a draw when he did.
Nakamura explained his decision as also being about maintaining a lead over Arjun in the battle for a Candidates spot by rating, and not wanting to end the tournament on a low:
It’s much easier to go for glory in the last round. Today, if I’d gone crazy and lost, I’m still looking at a black game tomorrow, and there’s a very realistic chance I could end on two losses, and then it’s not ok!
He was also thinking in terms of his (soon-to-be-over?) classical career.
“I had a feeling this is most likely the last time I’ll be playing a classical tournament here & if I don’t qualify for the Candidates very likely the last time I play a top-level game against this caliber of competition. Do I want to try & go out in glory & blow up completely?” pic.twitter.com/Vz0ARjSP3f
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 5, 2025
Nakamura had surprisingly lost four armageddon games in a row, but it wouldn’t be a fifth.
Nakamura chose a line he said GM Jose Martinez had played against him regularly during the pandemic. Nakamura had suffered in those games, and it was the same for Arjun, who got into a difficult position by move 20 and never came close to escaping. The finish was precisely calculated by Nakamura.
After 4 Armageddon losses in a row, Nakamura scores a totally dominant win over Arjun! #NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/awYlWHRM4o
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 5, 2025
Nakamura once again recapped the day’s action.
The extra half point for armageddon could be significant since, for example, a classical win for Nakamura over Wei in the final round would be enough for first place, or a playoff for first, if neither Carlsen nor Gukesh wins in classical chess, and Carlsen doesn’t win in armageddon either. In fact, we could get a three-way blitz playoff.
Women: Muzychuk Jumps To Top After Decisive Day
Muzychuk is the sudden leader of the tournament ahead of the last round.
Norway Chess Women’s Standings After Round 9
Ju 0-3 Muzychuk
Going into the round, Ju and Muzychuk were a half-point behind the leader Humpy. Ju suffered her first classical loss in the last two editions of Norway Chess, and it’s Muzychuk who became the overnight favorite to win it all.
Ju declined a potential repetition early on in the opening, which was a tense Symmetrical English. We had only seen two pawns traded in the first 24 moves, and Muzychuk said that neither player had prepared specifically for the opening they got.
The star move of the game was Muzychuk’s positional exchange sacrifice 24…Rxf4!?, intended to remove White’s best piece, the knight on d5. Black was going to win a pawn for the exchange on d3, with compensation, but not more. But giving up the pawn with 27.d4?? gave Black a winning position as the black c-pawn became a dangerous passer.
“Amazing positional judgment from Anna Muzychuk,” said Howell, and she went on to win a beautiful game. The Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist pointed out some stunning lines in her interview as well, including a queen sacrifice that didn’t happen, shared below.
Asked by the main broadcast how she’ll approach her game on Friday, she answered, “I am still in this game, it just finished! I didn’t think anything about tomorrow.” She also added, laughing, “I don’t even know the standings!”
I don’t even know the standings!
—Anna Muzychuk
Lei 3-0 Humpy
Lei delivered a tough blow to Humpy, who had just jumped into the sole lead. The Chinese grandmaster said that the tournament had been “quite painful” for her, after losing against Khadem and losing three armageddons after that. But things turned around with this win.
Lei had mixed up her opening preparation and reached an unfamiliar position early on. She said that she should have played 8.h3 instead of 8.Nf3. Humpy outplayed her, finding the incisive pawn sacrifice 15…d4! to bring her pieces to active posts, in particular her knight, which quickly came via the e6-square to f4.
Had Humpy won, she would have remained a point ahead of Muzychuk. But, from a winning position, she erred with 22…Bc5??, a move Lei said she had seen way back when both sides castled. Lei said, “When she played …Bc5 I tried to make sure if she blundered and I told myself, yeah she did!”
I tried to make sure if she blundered and I told myself, yeah she did!
—Lei Tingjie
In fact, Black could have sacrificed a piece to win the game, but the move was 22…Bb4!. Alternatively, Lei pointed out that 22…Ng6 was a safe option, and she thought Black was slightly better, even if the engine says it’s equal.
Vaishali 0-3 Khadem
Vaishali still had a mathematical chance of winning the tournament before this round, but she had to win her last two games. That’s over, and although Khadem is still in last place, she’d end with a rating gain (of +0.6) if the tournament ended today.
This was the first game that the commentators predicted would be decisive, and the strategic battle in the Ruy Lopez did not disappoint. After sacrificing a pawn, Vaishali even went down two, but she found an incredible combination starting with 27.Ng6!! to save the game. In time trouble, however, she wasn’t able to hold the endgame with a queen vs. two rooks, even if a computer could.
NM Anthony Levin contributed to this report.
If leaders Carlsen or Muzychuk win in classical chess in the final round, all will be simple, but otherwise, almost anything can happen. Fourth-placed Caruana and Ju can still win their respective titles, if everything goes their way!
How to watch?
Norway Chess 2025 features Open and Women’s six-player tournaments for equal prize funds of 1,690,000 NOK (~$167,000). It runs 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 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).
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