Hikaru Nakamura beat Fabiano Caruana on demand to win the 2023 edition of Norway Chess and claim the world no. 2 spot, crowning a stunning return to classical chess that has seen him gain over 50 rating points in just over a year since the pandemic. 17-year-old Gukesh took 3rd place, while Magnus Carlsen finished 6th, failing to win a classical game in a round-robin for the 1st time since 2007.

The final round of Norway Chess 2023 featured two stunning wins — Hikaru Nakamura took down Fabiano Caruana on demand, while Aryan Tari picked up his first classical win of the event against none other than the official world no. 2 Alireza Firouzja.

Here's the final day's live commentary from Judit Polgar, Jovanka Houska and David Howell.

Replay all the Norway Chess games with computer analysis

Let’s take a look at how the event went for all the players.

1. HIKARU NAKAMURA: 1st, 16.5 points. Classical: 3 wins, 6 draws (+3). Armageddon: 3/6

Hikaru Nakamura’s final round win over Fabiano Caruana saw him clinch the title by half a point and pick up the 750,000 NOK (around $70,000) top prize.

Going into the clash with Caruana, Hikaru knew that only a win with the white pieces would give him victory, and he went for it with the Fried Liver Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5), a line from the Romantic era of chess that’s a relatively rare guest at the very highest level.

In one of his many confessional appearances, Hikaru explained that it had sentimental value, since he’d played the same line with 8.Bd3 in the final round of the 2009 US Championship against Joshua Friedel.

That win saw Hikaru finish half a point ahead of Robert Hess to clinch his 2nd US Championship, and the first to be played in Saint Louis under Rex Sinquefield’s sponsorship. Hikaru also explained that the idea to employ the move (although the position was first played in numerous games in the 1890s!) was Kris Littlejohn’s, with his second with him in Stavanger 14 years later.

Hikaru had an impressive support group in Stavanger: his girlfriend WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan, his mother Carolyn, his stepfather FM Sunil Weeramantry and his second Kris Littlejohn | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess

Hikaru went to the game with the variations fresh in his mind, including the nuances of why it was better to start with 15.Ba3 rather than 15.Ne4, precisely to prevent a move which Fabiano went on to play anyway, 17…f5? (17…Nb4! had been played in all eight previous games, and was the way to go).

After 22 minutes of checking, Hikaru grabbed a second pawn with 18.Nxc5! and that, essentially was that. Fabiano told Hikaru afterwards that he’d initially planned 18…Qa5? only to realise 19.Ng5! is crushing there, though it’s not the only winning move.

In the game, Nakamura was soon able to force off queens, and although Caruana did everything he could to complicate matters, he never made serious inroads into Hikaru’s advantage. It was all over on move 55.

“It feels pretty amazing!”, said Hikaru, adding, “It’s about as smooth of a win as I could have asked for”.

Later there was, of course, a recap!

That completed arguably Hikaru’s most impressive classical tournament victory since, as a 23-year-old who had recently started working with Garry Kasparov, he won Wijk aan Zee 2011 in clear first ahead of Vishy Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Ian Nepomniachtchi and more top names.

It was also remarkable, since after his last tournament before the pandemic Hikaru was rated 2736 and world no. 22. He didn’t play another classical event until winning the Berlin FIDE Grand Prix in February 2022. Hikaru never looked back, and has now added 51 rating points for a 2787 rating, which on July 1st is likely to make the US star the world no. 2 on an official rating list for the first time since 2016.

The Top 15 of the live rating list after Norway Chess looks as follows.

"Not bad for a streamer," has been the refrain, but it’s long been clear that Nakamura’s streaming has only helped his overall chess, with the distinction between online and over-the-board chess largely artificial.

There are a number of other factors. Hikaru credits having an audience rooting for him with helping with motivation, while he also places particular emphasis on his financial security, claiming his rivals are under much greater pressure.

The financial aspect is perhaps overstated, since top chess players, like top players in any sport, have few money worries and, one assumes, mainly feel pressure because of ambition and their competitive nature.

Nakamura, who was one draw last year away from a world championship match, claims not to be bothered at all about whether he qualifies or not for the upcoming Candidates. That may be true, but it’s worth noting that, barring a return by Magnus, the world no. 2 spot would earn a place by rating.

2. FABIANO CARUANA: 2nd, 16 points. Classical: 4 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses (+2). Armageddon: 2/3

Fabiano Caruana came into Norway Chess fresh from an incredibly smooth victory at the Superbet Chess Classic and continued to ride that wave when, in Round 1, he defeated Magnus Carlsen for the first time since 2017. Victories over Aryan Tari and Alireza Firouzja followed, while even a loss to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was cancelled out by an immediate comeback win in classical chess against Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

So near, yet so far for Fabiano Caruana | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess

Fabiano won more classical games than any other player, seldom lost control, and looked right back in the form that had taken him so close to the world championship title and the no. 1 spot back in 2018. There’s just one "but", of course — that single blunder in the final game against Hikaru Nakamura means that a fantastic tournament ended on a bitter note.

3. GUKESH: 3rd, 14.5 points. Classical: 2 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss (+1). Armageddon: 5/6

The last remaining clear winner of Norway Chess 2023 was the youngest participant, 17-year-old Indian prodigy Gukesh, who climbed to world no. 13 on his Norway Chess debut. He lost just one classical game, after losing control in time trouble against Hikaru Nakamura, but overall felt he was playing even better than his score suggested.

17-year-old Gukesh continues to look like the most promising player from India's incredible new generation of talents | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess

Gukesh was just half a point short of being able to go into the final round with a chance of the title, and also surprised in Armageddon. Despite not being considered a speed chess specialist, he racked up five wins in six games.

4. ANISH GIRI: 4th, 13 points. Classical: 1 win, 8 draws (+1). Armageddon: 4/8

Giri with Erwin l'Ami rather than his more recent recruit, Jan Gustafsson | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess

Anish Giri, like Wesley So, didn’t a lose a classical game and picked up a single win (against Aryan Tari), which has to count as a successful showing, despite neither player challenging for the very top spots.

5. WESLEY SO: 5th, 12.5 points. Classical: 1 win, 8 draws (+1). Armageddon: 3/8

Wesley So beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov in classical chess in Round 7, but expressed his frustration afterwards at having drawn the previous 14 games. That couldn’t prevent him ending a second tournament in a row with an identical eight draws and a win.

In Stavanger the draws weren’t the end, and on five of the days he drew Wesley went on to lose in Armageddon. “I don’t really care about the Armageddon, but the half points add up”, he noted.

6. MAGNUS CARLSEN: 6th, 11.5 points. Classical: 8 draws, 1 loss (-1). Armageddon: 7/8

The other player to score eight draws was one few would have expected — Magnus Carlsen. The world no. 1 also lost to his great rival Fabiano Caruana, meaning he’d gone through a round-robin classical tournament winless for the first time since he was a 16-year-old in 2007. When the dust had settled, he’d jettisoned 18 rating points to leave the formerly announced goal of hitting 2900 in ruins.

Magnus Carlsen — still the king? | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess

No-one could claim a lack of ambition. In particular against Aryan Tari and Alireza Firouzja, Magnus was completely winning, but his usually reliable intuition and technique failed again and again. At times he also skirted disaster. The final round was a repeat, with a good position against Nodirbek Abdusattorov turning into one where he had to scramble to make a draw.

You don’t need to know Norwegian to understand that it had been a tough event for Magnus.

Some are even writing him off…

There were positives, however. No-one played more games than Magnus, and he lost fewer than anyone — only that first game against Fabiano Caruana, when he played the French and lived to regret it. His 6th place was better than he managed in Stavanger in 2015 (7th) and 2017 (9th).

That was down to a remarkable 7/8 score in Armageddon, which is going to be tough for anyone to beat, though 8/8 was within touching distance. That would just have papered over the cracks, however, and it was perhaps fitting that the final Armageddon game ended with Magnus losing a wild scramble on time.

7. SHAKHRIYAR MAMEDYAROV: 7th, 11 points. Classical: 1 win, 7 draws, 1 loss (50%). Armageddon: 2/7

It feels somewhat surprising to see Shakhriyar Mamedyarov down in 7th place, particularly after he managed to beat the at-the-time seemingly unstoppable Fabiano Caruana.

Shakh did indeed have a very decent classical tournament, finishing on 50%, and even had winning chances in the game he lost to Alireza Firouzja. What cost him was Armageddon, where some bright moments were offset by five losses.

8. ALIREZA FIROUZJA: 8th, 10.5 points. Classical: 2 wins, 3 losses, 4 draws (-1). Armageddon: 1/4

Alireza Firouzja came into Norway Chess fresh from finishing 2nd in Bucharest and then cruised to 2nd place in the opening blitz tournament. A loss to Gukesh in Round 1 was met by two classical wins in a row, against Mamedyarov and Abdusattorov, and all seemed to be well with the 19-year-old.

Alireza Firouzja enters the building for the final round | photo: Maria Emelianova, Chess.com

After the first rest day, however — when he failed to win a fashion design contest — he lost a dramatic game to Fabiano Caruana and from then on didn’t win a game (though a draw as Black in Armageddon saw him win one mini-match).

The final round summed things up, as Firouzja blundered in a roughly equal position against Aryan Tari and went down in flames. Finishing two places higher was well within reach if Alireza hadn’t disappointed in Armageddon as well, but overall this was perhaps the kind of result that’s an occupational hazard for such an uncompromising player.  

9. NODIRBEK ABDUSATTOROV: 9th, 9 points. Classical: 1 win, 3 losses, 5 draws (-2). Armageddon: 2/5

More surprising, perhaps, was a major disappointment for Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The 18-year-old had defeated Fabiano Caruana in the run-up to the event in the ChessKid Cup and topped the standings in the blitz.

Two players who had both suffered in Stavanger saw the funny side of their wild finish | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess

He started the main event ok, but suffered consecutive losses to Caruana and So towards the end, so that Armageddon wins over Nakamura and Carlsen in the final two rounds couldn’t undo the damage. Only 6.6 rating points were lost, however, so that it was more of a stumble instead of the expected continued climb towards the very top. 

10. ARYAN TARI: 10th, 6 points. Classical: 1

win, 3 draws, 5 losses (-4). Armageddon: 0/3

Being a huge ratings underdog in such an event is always going to be tough, but going into the final round there was little positive you could say about the Norwegian no. 2. He’d lost five classical games and won none of his three Armageddons, and in the last round he was facing world no. 2 Alireza Firouzja.

Something for Aryan Tari to celebrate! | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess

That’s when it all turned round, however, as Aryan doubled his score with a classical win. He got a chance to execute mate-in-4 at the end, and if he didn’t quite manage, 55.Rf6! (55.Be6! and you can’t stop Bg4+) was sufficient to force resignation.

Rf5+ and Bf7# can be stopped only by giving up pieces.

If you’d told Aryan at the start of the event that he was going to score more classical wins than the other Norwegian participant, he would have expected to finish higher than 10th place.

A 2nd chess event in a row featured crowds of fans grabbing selfies and autographs | photo: Lennart Ootes, Norway Chess

There’s not too long for Magnus to lick his wounds, since on Monday, June 12 he’s facing the ordeal of the Play-In for the 4th event on the Champions Chess Tour, the Aimchess Rapid. He’ll need to finish in the top eight places of a big Swiss (that might include Hikaru Nakamura) and then win a match, to make it to the main event, for which Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev are already qualified. We’ll have full coverage here on chess24.

See also: