Posted June 15, 2015 in Famous Players

Norway Chess 2015 Begins Today



Update on June 15 @ 2200 EST
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave wins the Norway Chess 2015 Blitz Tournament.
Click the campfire icon to view the update.


The greatest chess players in the world have gathered in Scandic Stavanger Forus, Norway for the 2015 Norway ‘No-Logo’ Chess Supertournament. In just a few short years, this tournament has emerged as one of the premier playing events for the world’s best players and this year it takes the stage as part of the recently announced Chess Grand Tour. The Grand Tour itself is a collection of tournaments designed to increase the prestige and attention to international chess in traditionally low-interest arenas like the United States. Each of the tournaments in the Grand Tour represent the best of what international chess has to offer, with Norway Chess 2015 leading the way. As of 0700 EST in the United States, the blitz pairings for the tournament are available 2015 Norway Chess official website.

Blitz Pairings for Norway Chess 2015
Pair Country Name Rating Country Name Rating
1 Norway GM Jon Hammer 2665 Armenia GM Levon Aronian 2776
2 Netherlands GM Anish Giri 2776 Norway GM Magnus Carlsen 2876
3 United States GM Hikaru Nakamura 2799 Bulgaria GM Veselin Topalov 2803
4 Russia GM Alexander Grischuk 2780 India GM Vishy Anand 2804
5 France GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2754 India GM Fabiano Caruana 2803

The 2014 Norway Chess tournament was won by GM Sergey Karjakin from Russia with 6/10 points, World Champion Magnus Carlsen coming in a close second with 5.5/10 points. Karjakin is not participating in this year’s event, which means that Magnus Carlsen and GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana looking to give him a run for his money. Nakamura and Caruana are believed by many chess commentators to be Carlsen’s biggest challenge to the World Championship title. One thing is for sure, the international chess community is in for an exciting tournament!

Follow all of the games with live commentary and engine analysis on chess websites across the web:

  • Chess.com – follow the games in the live chess arena.
  • PlayChess.com – with commentary and analysis from ChessBase.
  • ChessBomb – with chatroom options and live engine commentary.
  • Chessdom – with live commentary and 3-engine analysis.
  • Chess24.com – with live commentary and engine analysis.

Update on June 15 @ 2200 EST

The blitz section of the Norway Chess 2015 tournament has ended with GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave claiming the top spot with 6.5 points. GM Hikaru Nakamura, who is a well-known blitz expert, finished the blitz tournament in close second with 6 points. The final standings of the blitz tournament are:

  1. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 6.5 pts
  2. GM Hikaru Nakamura – 6 pts
  3. GM Magnus Carlsen – 5.5 pts
  4. GM Anish Giri – 5.5 pts
  5. GM Vishwanathan Anand – 5.5 pts
  6. GM Levon Aronian – 5 pts
  7. GM Alexander Grischuk – 4 pts
  8. GM Veselin Topalov – 3 pts
  9. GM Fabiano Caruana – 2.5 pts
  10. GM Jon Ludvig Hammer – 1.5 pts
View all of the blitz games from Norway Chess 2015: