Possessing the flexibility to trump the fiercest rivals in the classical chess type, world champion D. Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi will spearhead India’s problem on the Norway Chess event, the place they’ll compete towards the likes of Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura from Modnday (May 26, 2025).
Gukesh will take on world No.1 Carlsen in the opening round in what must be one of probably the most keenly contested matches in the event, whereas first-timer Erigaisi will open his marketing campaign towards Wei Yi of China.
In the ladies’s part, two-time World Rapid champion Koneru Humpy will play country-mate R Vaishali in the primary round.
Norway Chess, comprising of six gamers in the boys’s and girls’s sections and performed in a double round-robin format, is one of probably the most prestigious occasions on the chess calendar.
This is the primary time India have two gamers in the boys’s part, elevating hopes of going all the way in which and clinching a maiden title for India in the event, which was first performed in 2013. At that point, it featured 10 of the very best gamers in the sphere, together with five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand.
Anand, who has performed the event greater than half-a-dozen occasions and completed runner-up in 2015, had lately mentioned that he anticipated a “very exciting battle” as each Gukesh and Erigaisi won’t lack motivation or the dedication to go after five-time world champion Carlsen, who has received half a dozen titles right here.
The presence of 4 Indians in the sphere additionally speaks in regards to the development of chess in the nation although the duty of getting previous the likes of Carlsen and American Grandmasters Nakamura and the Chinese girls’s duo of Ju Wenjun and Lie Tingjie is less complicated mentioned than carried out.
Nakamura is ranked second in the world behind Carlsen and is one of probably the most tough clients if the sport goes into the Armageddon format in the occasion of a stalemate.
Both Gukesh (world No.3) and Erigaisi (No.4) are ranked beneath him, and it could require immense grit and endurance to break via the defence of native hero Carlsen and Nakamura.
Gukesh, following his world title-winning feat towards China’s Ding Liren in Singapore final yr, is looking for this elusive title.
He struggled in the Freestyle chess event in Paris and misplaced the Tata Steel Masters title to countrymate R. Praggnanandhaa earlier this yr. The Chennai teenager additionally couldn’t put up a powerful present in the Superbet Classic in Bucharest lately, with Praggnanandhaa successful the title.
While Gukesh has seen a giant hunch since his world title-winning feat, Praggnanandhaa has been on fireplace this yr. But it’s solely a matter of time earlier than {the teenager} will get into his groove.
The girls’s class, launched final yr, has girls’s world speedy champion Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali competing for the title with Chinese heavyweights, girls’s world champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Tan Zhongyi.
Humpy’s conflict with Wenjun might determine who wins the title, on condition that the Indian has saved the fireplace burning in her for greater than 20 years and nonetheless appears to be like hungry for extra, as was proved when she received the world speedy title on New York for a second time late final yr in New York.
The event boasts equal prize cash, one thing only a few chess occasions provide, and may very well be a motivation for the ladies rivals as effectively. The whole prize fund is round $1,62,681.
Men: Magnus Carlsen (Nor), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), D. Gukesh (Ind), Arjun Erigaisi (Ind), Fabiano Caruana (USA), Wei Yi (Chn).
Women: Women: Ju Wenjun (Chn), Lie Tingjie (Chn), Koneru Humpy (Ind), Anna Muzychuk (Ukr), R. Vaishali (Ind), Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Esp).
Published – May 26, 2025 08:45 am IST
