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Defending champion Magnus Carlsen once again showcased his extraordinary resilience as he clinched the Norway Chess 2025 title in dramatic fashion on Friday.
Entering the final round as the overnight leader with 15 points after nine rounds, Carlsen was pushed to the brink by India`s top-ranked player, Arjun Erigaisi, in round 10. Despite being outplayed for most of the classical game, the five-time world champion engineered a miraculous escape, steering the match to a draw that ultimately sealed the championship for him.
With the draw, Carlsen secured a crucial point that took his overall tally to 16, enough to hold off strong title challenges from American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana and D Gukesh, who were both in contention heading into the final day.
While Carlsen did lose the Armageddon tie-break to Erigaisi, who delivered a stunning checkmate, the Norwegian’s solitary point from the classical portion of the match proved sufficient to edge out his rivals by a slim margin.
Arjun Erigaisi gets to checkmate the 2025 #NorwayChess Champion! https://t.co/LOp8HQ2m5v pic.twitter.com/xhDM39g7CR
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 6, 2025
Reflecting on his performance after lifting the title, Carlsen humbly admitted to having some fortune on his side.
“I felt I generally played the best chess, but stumbling over the finish line, winning by half a point after a lot of results go my way.” The 33-year-old also made a candid remark about how his experience still allows him to outperform younger players at times. “I feel in parts of the game I`m a lot better than the kids… I generally feel I can outplay the kids, which feels good!”
The final standings bore testimony to the tournament`s intense competitiveness. Carlsen topped the leaderboard with 16 points, narrowly edging out Caruana, who finished second with 15.5. Gukesh secured third place with 14.5, continuing his steady rise in elite-level chess. Hikaru Nakamura ended fourth with 14 points, while Arjun Erigaisi, despite his memorable win in the Armageddon round, settled for fifth place with 13 points. Chinese GM Wei Yi rounded off the standings with 9.5 points.
A defeat for the Norwegian would have been catastrophic, as the Gukesh-Caruana game was still in progress, and a Classical win for either would have dashed his hopes of a seventh Norway Chess title and the accompanying prize purse of approximately USD 69,500.
In fact, had Gukesh, who finished third, managed to draw his game against Caruana, he would have secured the title¿provided Carlsen had lost his Classical encounter against Erigaisi.
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