GM Fabiano Caruana remains in the lead of Norway Chess 2025 after round eight, despite suffering a classical loss to GM Arjun Erigaisi during a tense time scramble. Caruana had been pressing for most of the game, making the defeat particularly heartbreaking. Close behind him is GM Magnus Carlsen, trailing by just half a point after losing his armageddon game against GM Wei Yi due to a critical blunder. Meanwhile, GM Hikaru Nakamura triumphed in the Game of the Day, overcoming World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju after maintaining a strong advantage from the opening.
In the women’s tournament, Indian GM Koneru Humpy took the sole lead in Women’s Norway Chess 2025 by defeating IM Sara Khadem, marking the only classical win of the day. She is now a point ahead of Women’s World Champion GM Ju Wenjun, whose impressive six-match winning streak was halted by GM Vaishali Rameshbabu. Additionally, GM Anna Muzychuk succeeded in her armageddon game against GM Lei Tingjie.
Round nine is set to begin on Wednesday, June 4, at 11 a.m. ET, 17:00 CEST, and 8:30 p.m. IST.
In the eighth round, Arjun, Nakamura, and Humpy were the three players who secured victories in classical games. The day’s armageddon games concluded with victories for Wei, Muzychuk, and Vaishali.
As for the open tournament, Caruana is still in front but was close to extending his lead by another three points, with every player except Wei now within three points of the leader.
Looking ahead, the next round features an exciting matchup between Carlsen and Caruana, with second place facing off against first. Humpy will play with the black pieces against Lei, while Ju and Muzychuk, just half a point behind Humpy, will have a direct clash.
Norway Chess 2025 features both the Open and Women’s tournaments, boasting equal prize funds of 1,690,000 NOK (approximately $167,000). The event runs from May 26 to June 6 in Stavanger, where players will compete using classical chess format, featuring 120 minutes for 40 moves, plus a 10-second increment starting from move 41. A classical game victory earns three points, with zero for the loser; a drawn game awards one point to each player, leading to a tiebreaker armageddon for an additional half-point.
Original Source: https://www.chess.com/news/view/2025-norway-chess-round-8
Category:
Tags:
Publish Date: 2025-06-04 01:15:00
