The Norway Chess tournament, held annually in Stavanger, is one of the most prestigious chess tournaments in the world. This year, the tournament will feature Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa in the open category, competing against some of the biggest names in chess such as World No 1 Magnus Carlsen and World Champion Ding Liren. In addition to Pragg, Indian Grandmasters Koneru Humpy and Vaishali Rameshbabu will also be participating in the women’s section at Norway Chess.
The field at Norway Chess will be highly competitive, with Pragg facing off against top players such as Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and Alireza Firouzja. Koneru and Vaishali will also be part of an elite group that includes Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie, Anna Muzychuk, and Pia Cramling.
One of the main attractions this year will be the classical match between 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa and Magnus Carlsen, where they previously met in the FIDE World Cup final. Despite a loss to Carlsen, Pragg secured a spot at the Candidates chess tournament.
The format of Norway Chess includes a double round-robin with classical games having a time control of 120 minutes with a 10-second increment after move 40. There is also an Armageddon provision where white gets 10 minutes and black gets 7, with a 1-second increment after move 41. Scoring includes three points for a classical win, 1.5 points for an Armageddon win