Magnus Carlsen arrived in vintage form at the start of the Norway Chess tournament. The encounter began inconclusively with the six stars – in ranking order Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh Dommaraju and Wei Yi – all launching a win or two. Gukesh, who celebrated his 19th birthday on Thursday, won in round three against Nakamura.
Carlsen’s version of one of Bobby Fischer’s favourite openings set the tone last week for another clean sweep of the No 1 of the global elite. Carlsen’s comprehensive victory in the chess.com Speed Championship, which this year also acted as a qualifier for the Esports World Cup, included mini-match victories over three important rivals.
