GM Magnus Carlsen has won his seventh Norway Chess title after escaping and then almost winning a lost position against GM Arjun Erigaisi in the final round. With seconds to spare, he took a draw, which seemed to guarantee the title as GM Fabiano Caruana was beating GM Gukesh Dommaraju, but then Caruana blundered a drawing continuation… only for the world champion to blunder last. Gukesh was inconsolable as he realized his chances of the title were suddenly gone.
GM Anna Muzychuk, who finished as runner-up in the inaugural women’s tournament last year, won Women’s Norway Chess 2025 this year to earn 700,000 NOK ($61,617). She made draws in both classical and armageddon against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, but it was still enough to win. Runner-up GM Lei Tingjie won on demand with the black pieces against IM Sara Khadem in the only classical win. GM Koneru Humpy, in third, didn’t manage to beat GM Ju Wenjun on demand but won the armageddon game.
Norway Chess Final Round Results
In the end there were only two classical wins in the final round, for Caruana and Lei, but the excitement was off the scale!
Open: Carlsen Triumphs After Gukesh Heartbreak
An incredibly tense final round saw Carlsen triumph by the narrowest of margins above Caruana and Gukesh. In fact, the top five were all separated by less than a single classical win.
Norway Chess Final Standings
Carlsen’s victory was built on an astonishing fightback with his rook and knights against Arjun’s king. That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao will analyze below:
That still might not have been enough if Gukesh had held a draw against Caruana, but in the most dramatic of dramatic finishes, he didn’t. Chess is absolutely brutal!
Absolute heartbreak for Gukesh as he’d rescued a draw against Caruana only to blunder at the very end!#NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/ruCepSQNEH
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 6, 2025
Women: Muzychuk Wins, Runner-up Lei Leapfrogs Humpy
Muzychuk won the tournament, and Lei leapfrogged over Humpy on the final day to finish in second.
Norway Chess Women’s Final Standings
NM Anthony Levin contributed to this report.
How to rewatch?
Norway Chess 2025 featured Open and Women’s six-player tournaments for equal prize funds of 1,690,000 NOK (~$167,000). It ran 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 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 got draw odds).
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