Magnus Carlsen led Offerspill Chess Club to their first title in the Norwegian League today, with the 32-year-old playing his last classical games as the reigning world champion.

The league title was never in much doubt for Offerspill, who won all their nine matches and scored 18/18 points. Vålerenga took 2nd place on 15 points, while Oslo Schakselskap were 3rd on 14 points.

Full standings of the Norwegian League

Offerspill clinched the title this weekend by scoring 5-1 (vs Stavanger), 4.5-1.5 (Oslo Schakselskap) and 4-2 in the key match against rivals Vålerenga, champions in 5 of the last 6 seasons.

Offerspill brought in reinforcements for the weekend, with Dutch star Jorden van Foreest and Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa making their debuts. Norway's #2 Aryan Tari had been board 1 for the entire season until this weekend, when he played two matches on board 4.

Jorden van Foreest scored 1.5/2 for Offerspill this weekend | photo: Rolf Haug

The league matches took place at the Panorama room of the national football stadium Ullevål, an unusually stylish venue for the Norwegian League. It was fitting, considering the last weekend has never been as strong, with more grandmasters present than ever before.

At the center of attention, as always, was Magnus Carlsen, who made his season's debut for Offerspill on board 1. The 32-year-old scored 2.5 out of 3, which means he'll actually gain a single point on the next FIDE rating list.

For Carlsen it marks the end of an era as he likely played his last classical games as world champion. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren will begin their match in Astana, Kazakhstan on April 9th and the Norwegian is not expected to play any classical events until Norway Chess from May 29 till June 9.

Anish Giri made one of his few tweets seemingly without any humour.

His first game against the 511 points lower rated FM Levi Andre Tallaksen was a walk in the park.

Carlsen - Tallaksen:

30.Nh6+ Kh8 31.Ng6+! hxg6 32.Nf7+ Kg8 33.Qg6 White is now simply threatening h6-h7. 33...Ra7 It's pretty remarkable that this is Black's best move in the position, according to the computer. Of course it's not enough. 34.Bxa7 Nf4 35.Nh6+ Kh8 36.Qf7 And White won after 44 moves. 1-0

Oslo Schakselskap's GM Jon Ludvig Hammer seemed for a long time to be holding a draw against the world champion, but the Norwegian #3 made a huge blunder in the endgame.

Carlsen - Hammer

35...Kc5?? 36.Rb8! Now White is actually threatening mate. 36...Rb7 Any other way to stop the mate fails, as 36...Bc4 37. Kc3, with b3 followed by Nxe6 comes next. 37.Nxe6 With this pawn falling, everything collapses. Kb4 38.Rxb7+ Bxb7 39.Kd4 Bc6 40.Nc5 h5 41.b3 and Black resigned a few moves later. 1-0

The 2022-2023 Norwegian Championship came down to the match between Vålerenga and Offerspill, with Carlsen facing his former teammate and now popular Champions Chess Tour commentator David Howell.

David Howell had lost his last two classical games against Magnus Carlsen, in 2010 and 2011, but had no problems holding a draw in 2023 | photo: Rolf Haug

The British GM, who now resides in Oslo, as usual spent a lot of time in the opening and was down to less than 20 minutes for his last 18 moves.

Carlsen was able to apply some pressure, but the position remained roughly equal and a draw was agreed on move 44. A good result for Howell, who finished the league on an undefeated 7.5/9.

For Praggnanandhaa, who also made his debut for Offerspill, it wasn't a particularly good weekend, with two draws against weaker opposition, but his win against Vålerenga's Evgeny Romanov was convincing.

Praggnanandhaa conceded two draws against weaker opposition, but scored an important win in the last round | photo: Rolf Haug

Offerspill's Frode Urkedal, who became the best player of the league this season with 8/9, was the other player who won his game, while all the other games were drawn.

Offerspill has now qualified for the European Club Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Albania in October.

Final standings: