GM Fabiano Caruana continues to lead Norway Chess 2025 after round eight, even after his classical loss to GM Arjun Erigaisi in the time scramble. It was a heartbreaker for the leader, as Caruana had been pressing for the entire game. GM Magnus Carlsen is a half-point behind, in second place, despite losing his armageddon game against GM Wei Yi with a one-move blunder. GM Hikaru Nakamura won the Game of the Day against World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, converting an advantage from the opening all the way to the end.
Indian GM Koneru Humpy has regained the sole lead in Women’s Norway Chess 2025 with two rounds to go after beating IM Sara Khadem in the day’s only classical win. Humpy is a point ahead of Women’s World Champion GM Ju Wenjun, whose six-match winning streak was ended by GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, and GM Anna Muzychuk, who took down GM Lei Tingjie in armageddon.
This is a flash report. The full article will be added to this page soon.
Round nine starts Wednesday, June 4, at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST.
Norway Chess Round 8 Results
Arjun, Nakamura, and Humpy won the three classical games of the day. We saw three armageddons end in favor of Wei, Muzychuk, and Vaishali.
Open: Nakamura Rises; Caruana, Carlsen Blunder
Caruana continues to lead, but he was oh so close to extending his lead by another three points. Now every player except for Wei is within three points of the leader.
Norway Chess Standings After Round 8
GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below. (This will be added soon.)
Women: Humpy Snatches Lead, Vaishali Beats World Champion
Humpy is back as the sole leader of Women’s Norway Chess with two rounds to go after scoring a three-point classical win over Khadem, but Ju and Muzychuk are only one point behind.
Colin McGourty contributed to this report.
The marquee matchup will be Carlsen vs. Caruana in the open, second place versus first place. Humpy will defend with the black pieces against Lei, while the two players a half-point behind her—Ju and Muzychuk—will have a direct encounter.
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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