All posts tagged: Alireza Firouzja

Praggnanandhaa wins Norway Chess 2026 title after stunning final round victory | Chess News

Praggnanandhaa wins Norway Chess 2026 title after stunning final round victory | Chess News

Published by Webster

2 min readOslo (norway)Jun 6, 2026 12:33 AM IST India’s R Praggnanandhaa won the Norway Chess 2026 title after a classical victory over German grandmaster Vincent Keymer in the final round on Saturday at Oslo’s Deichman Bjørvika. This is the 20-year-old prodigy’s first title of the year. Pragg had a remarkable final kick at the end of the 10-round tournament, winning four classical games in a row after losing two on the trot. The win over Keymer came on the heels of Praggnanandhaa’s victories over Alireza Firouzja, world no 1 Magnus Carlsen and world champion Gukesh over the last four days. The tournament also saw Praggnanandhaa complete a double over Carlsen. After his victory over Gukesh on Thursday, Praggnanandhaa had spoken about how he had clawed back from the bottom of the table to rise to a title fight. “I’m happy that I’m still in the race because three days back I was fighting for the last spot,” Praggnanandhaa had said. “And now I have a chance at fighting. So I’ll take it.” The Gukesh …

Last day, last show at Norway Chess: Gukesh vs Magnus Carlsen to avoid last place | Chess News

Last day, last show at Norway Chess: Gukesh vs Magnus Carlsen to avoid last place | Chess News

Published by Webster

2 min readJun 5, 2026 07:51 AM IST A year after India’s D Gukesh and Magnus Carlsen found themselves in a final-day race to win Norway Chess 2025, the world champion and the world no 1 are again in a final round scramble for position. Only this time, when Gukesh faces Carlsen on Friday at Oslo’s Deichman Bjørvika, they will be looking to avoid last spot in the standings while R Praggnanandhaa, Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja jockey for the top spot. It has been one of the most bruising tournaments for both Gukesh and Carlsen, with the former winning just one of his nine classical games while the Norwegian has won twice. Both players have lost four classical games each in Norway Chess. They both suffered defeats on Thursday in the penultimate round (albeit Carlsen lost in the Armageddon portion). The Indian, who turned 20 on the first rest day of the tournament, lost in the classical portion to compatriot Praggnanandhaa in just 34 moves. In the first all-Indian encounter in the first half …

Norway Chess: Gukesh drops to last spot; Divya Deshmukh chasing title | Chess News

Norway Chess: Gukesh drops to last spot; Divya Deshmukh chasing title | Chess News

Published by Webster

2 min readUpdated: Jun 2, 2026 11:47 AM IST World champion D Gukesh slipped down to the last place in the open standings at Norway Chess after being unable to convert his hefty advantage against American grandmaster Wesley So in their round 7 game on Monday. But the mystery of the Wesley So vs Gukesh game was why the American agreed to a draw on the 40th move when the Indian was down to barely a minute on his clock which meant he would have had to survive for the rest of the game on 10-second increments per move. The good news for the Indian who just turned 20 is that even though he is last in the six-player standings, he’s just 4.5 points off the top of the table, which is currently occupied by So with 12.5 points. Just above Gukesh in fifth spot is compatriot R Praggnananddha, with nine points along with Vincent Keymer and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. Praggnananddha defeated Alireza Firouzja in their classical battle. After defeating Magnus Carlsen and …

Magnus Carlsen pulls out ‘proper old guy move’ in win over Alireza Firouzja | Chess News

Magnus Carlsen pulls out ‘proper old guy move’ in win over Alireza Firouzja | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readOsloJun 1, 2026 07:04 AM IST It’s starting to happen again. That juggernaut called Magnus Carlsen is starting to gather momentum to chase another title at Norway Chess, however absurd it sounds this time around. After all, it was only yesterday that Carlsen was at the bottom of the standings. A notorious slow starter at tournaments these days, it would have felt like Carlsen had left it too late to power another title challenge. Despite experiencing an unprecedented three losses in five games — to Alireza Firouzja, R Praggnanandhaa and Wesley So — so far at the tournament in Oslo, Carlsen is just four points behind tournament leader Wesley So after he took down the French-Iranian Firouzja in a classical game by playing “old man chess”. Walking into the game on Sunday, Carlsen was asked to rate from 1 to 10 how much of a mood he was in to fight. “1.5,” Carlsen had shrugged before walking away. But on the board, he had opted for an old-school opening trick to try and …

Gukesh after beating Pragg: ‘Been feeling much sharper, happier these days’ | Chess News

Gukesh after beating Pragg: ‘Been feeling much sharper, happier these days’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readOsloMay 31, 2026 10:50 AM IST On Friday, the day Gukesh had turned 20, the world champion and most of the other participants at this year’s Norway Chess tournament had found themselves out on the Oslofjord in a faux boat race as part of the annual Norway Chess games. The air had been light, the weather crisp, the sky a soothing azure. None of the tension that seeps into the air when you put so many grandmasters in vicinity of each other was there. Pragg had spent plenty of the trip out on the sea lounging on the hull of their ship in Vincent Keymer’s company, soaking up the Nordic sun. Gukesh, on another boat, had been serenaded by the birthday song more than once. Both Indian prodigies had walked from their hotel to the harbour together for the Norway Chess Games, laughing with each other in a rare moment of both of them letting their guards down in the middle of a tournament. One day later, both Gukesh and Pragg were at …

Magnus Carlsen defeats World Champion Gukesh in Norway Chess 2026 clash

Magnus Carlsen defeats World Champion Gukesh in Norway Chess 2026 clash

Published by Webster

Magnus Carlsen emerged victorious in the marquee matchup of Round 4 at Norway Chess 2026, defeating reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a closely fought classical game in Oslo on Thursday. Playing with the black pieces, Carlsen gradually gained the upper hand in a position that remained balanced for much of the contest. The turning point came in the middlegame, where the world No. 1 capitalised on his opportunities and increased the pressure on Gukesh. Facing a difficult position and mounting time trouble, the Indian grandmaster was unable to recover as Carlsen converted his advantage into a valuable victory. The result boosted Carlsen’s standing in the tournament after a relatively slow start and kept him firmly in contention for the title. Praggnanandhaa wins Armageddon as Firouzja stays on top The other two games in the open section ended in draws before being decided through Armageddon tiebreaks. Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja shared the point in their classical encounter, but So prevailed in Armageddon to secure the bonus point. Meanwhile, R Praggnanandhaa and Vincent Keymer drew …

An enigma called Alireza Firouzja, the crown prince of chess in waiting

An enigma called Alireza Firouzja, the crown prince of chess in waiting

Published by Webster

They call him the prince of chess. A monarch in waiting, who was handpicked as a worthy successor to the chess throne by king Carlsen himself, but one who could only watch as others cut into the line of succession and became world champions instead. In chess, the term natural talent is used frequently. Perhaps more than in any other sport. But it’s also in this sport that it’s trickier to define. Ask anyone in chess, and they are likely to describe Alireza Firouzja as a natural talent, a player whose instinctive understanding of the sport can be the envy of most others. But he’s also the sport’s biggest enigma. These days you can spot Firouzja being wheeled in on a wheelchair to Oslo’s Deichman Bjørvika to play at the Norway Chess tournament. He plays his games with one leg stuck out and planted gingerly on a chair at an odd angle for over four hours daily. And by the time he’s done with his game, he’s made his opponents squirm, like Carlsen, R Praggnanandhaa …

Alireza Firouzja will play at Norway Chess, five days after Romania event pull-out with injury

Alireza Firouzja will play at Norway Chess, five days after Romania event pull-out with injury

Published by Webster

4 min readOsloUpdated: May 24, 2026 09:39 PM IST After on-the-bed chess last week in Romania, Alireza Firouzja will be offered the option of playing chess while being seated on a wheelchair this week in Norway. There was some uncertainty about Alireza’s participation at this year’s Norway Chess — due to his ankle injury which forced him to pull out of the Super Chess Classic Romania. But on Sunday, the tournament’s organisers confirmed to The Indian Express that the 22-year-old will play at the two-week-long event starting on Monday at Oslo. Norway Chess’ social media handle posted a video of Alireza, R Praggnanandhaa, Vincent Keymer, Javokhir Sindarov and Wesley So flying together from Bucharest to Oslo on Sunday where the Frenchman can be seen being wheeled into his hotel by Norway Chess staff. The organisers are yet to work out the finer details of what tweaks they might have to make to provide Alireza a comfortable experience. For now, they have kept a wheelchair at hand in case the player needs to use it. One …

Why Alireza Firouzja is playing elite chess event lying on his hotel room bed | Chess News

Why Alireza Firouzja is playing elite chess event lying on his hotel room bed | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readMay 19, 2026 12:10 AM IST It felt like a return to the work-from-home era during the coronavirus pandemic. When French grandmaster Alireza Firouzja rolled over his ankle after his third round game at the Super Chess Classic 2026 tournament in Bucharest, organisers of the Grand Chess Tour knew they would have to get creative if they wanted to ensure his continued participation in the remaining rounds of the classical tournament in the Romanian capital. So, they came up with a never-before-heard solution: Alireza was asked to play from a bed in a hotel room with his opponent sitting across a physical board and an arbiter designated in the room to keep a mindful eye on them. The organisers were unable to set up cameras in the room on time, which meant that only the board’s live transmission was available but visuals of Alireza facing Javokhir Sindarov in the room were not seen. Despite being in crippling pain, Alireza managed to hold the Uzbekistan grandmaster to a draw on a day when all …

Gukesh’s day out in Warsaw: 2 blunders, 1 controversial moment and a lucky break | Chess News

Gukesh’s day out in Warsaw: 2 blunders, 1 controversial moment and a lucky break | Chess News

Published by Webster

5 min readMay 5, 2026 11:29 PM IST On a wild opening day at the Super Rapid and Blitz Poland tournament on Tuesday, world champion D Gukesh drew a game against Alireza Firouzja he was winning, then lost a game to Hans Niemann which was ambling towards a draw and finally ended his day by winning a game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda where he was under significant pressure. Three blunders — not all by Gukesh — decided the fortunes of the world champion on the first day of the rapid and blitz tournament in Warsaw. But the big talking point of the day came when the 19-year-old was locked in battle against Niemann in round 2. When making his knight hop on the e7 square on his 27th move, Gukesh, already under severe time trouble at that point, toppled over Niemann’s queen. When he tried to pick up the queen, he accidentally knocked over a pawn as well. With his time running down to just two seconds, Gukesh hit the clock to prevent himself from getting …