At Westernbyen, a ranch in Algard, D Gukesh went full cowboy, as the ongoing Norway Chess 2025 paused for a day after the first four rounds. The reigning world champion posed with women’s world champion Ju Wenjun, with Norway Chess sharing images on its official social media handles. Local boy Magnus Carlsen, the five-time world champion, posed with a real goat, adding a metaphor to his GOAT status in the sport.
As serious business resumed on Saturday, Carlsen extended his lead, securing an Armageddon victory over Fabiano Caruana. But the highlight of the day was Arjun Erigaisi’s win against Hikaru Nakamura. The Indian Grandmaster chased the games for long periods but Nakamura made a hash of his winning positions a couple of times.
He had chances in both games against Erigaisi, but bungled big time. In the Classical game, the American Grandmaster failed to take advantage of his extra pawn. He blundered in Armageddon as well.
Gukesh, meanwhile, lost to Wei Yi in the tiebreaker. Carlsen, on the other hand, negotiated through difficulties to have the last laugh against Caruana. The latter went for the Ruy Lopez opening but chose a different variation of it. The Norwegian legend initially wasn’t prepared for it and had to improvise. “I was kicking myself; just why I didn’t anticipate it earlier,” he told reporters. About his recent approach to chess theory, he said: “Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn’t.”
After five rounds, Carlsen leads the standings with 9.5 points followed by Caruana on 8.
In Norway Chess Women, Koneru Humpy is leading with 8.5 points, with Anna Muzychuk trailing her by half-a-point. Humpy won her Armageddon game against Lei Tingjie. R Vaishali defeated Sara Khadem, and it was the day’s only Classical victory.
Sunday will see a rematch between Carlsen and Gukesh.