Magnus Carlsen, the 35-year-old world No 1, was beaten in last night’s opening round of Norway Chess in Oslo by France’s Alireza Firouzja, who had retired from his previous event in Bucharest last week with a sprained ankle, caused by falling off the stage. He is competing in Oslo with the aid of a second chair for his injured foot.
Carlsen has a fine record in the annual Norway Chess elite tournament, which he has won for six of the past seven years. However, all these contests were in Stavanger, far from the Norwegian capital, whereas the 2026 edition takes place for the first time in Oslo itself.
The significance of the venue change is that Carlsen in the past has stated that he much prefers to play outside of Oslo to minimise hometown pressure. One of the few previous occasions when he took part in a major event in the Oslo area was the 2019 Fischer Random world championship final, where Carlsen lost to Wesley So of the US by a disastrous 2.5-13.5 margin.
Firouzja vs Carlsen was unclear until Carlsen, who abdicated his world crown four years ago, failed to make a pawn recapture at move 33, missing the resource 33 . . . Nxe3 34 Qg6+Kh8 35 Ra7 Nd1!! when Black draws. In the actual game, Carlsen resigned five moves later when confronted by a wall of advancing white pawns.
