From 3 June 2019, the seaside city of Stavanger in Southwestern Norway will again host the sixth annual Altibox Norway Chess Tournament. Boasting seven of the world’s top 10 players, including Norwegian and World Champion Magnus Carlsen, the average rating of the tournament this year will be 2784.
The full list of players, and their global ranking at the start of the tournament are:
Magnus Carlsen, Norway (2875)
Fabiano Caruana, USA (2819)
Ding Liren, China (2805)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, France (2779)
Alexander Grischuk, Russia (2775)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Azerbaijan (2774)
Viswanathan Anand, India (2767)
Wesley So, USA (2754)
Levon Aronian, Armenia (2752)
Yu Yangyi, China (2738)
Continuing its own tradition, Altibox Norway Chess promises to be even more unique and spectacular than in previous years. This 2019 edition will deviate from usual chess tournaments as draws will not give the players equal points.
Instead, if the full length classical game ends in a draw, players will enter a “sudden death” or Armageddon format – where in a quick blitz game, the player with the black pieces starts with less time on the clock but a draw will count as a win. The possible scores will consequently either be 2 – 0 (for a classical win) or 1.5 – 0.5 (for a classical draw, followed by a blitz game win).
This format will continue to make Altibox Norway Chess one of the most watched chess tournaments of the year. The tournament will again be broadcasted on the Norwegian domestic channel TV2 from the live studio at the playing venue, with high quality commentary from Norwegian television stars, chess grandmasters, and other famous personalities.
This also serves to bring chess to a wider public, making sure Norwegians – chess enthusiasts or otherwise – get to know the game and the players, including the World Champion. To develop on this, the parallel program will also have a school championship and an open tournament, which anyone can enter. They will also host the Norway Summit, a technological conference which unites the brightest Norwegian minds and guests from all over the world to share their ideas and expertise.
This year, the Norway Summit will have two well-known chess personalities and influencers. FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich, and the highest ever rated female grandmaster, Judit Polgar – who achieved 8th in the world at her peak. This year, Polgar will be doing a free English broadcast commentary, along with famous chess blogger, vlogger, streamer, and player IM Anna Rudolf. The broadcast is available to watch for free on the official website.
The tournament will start on Monday with a technical meeting and blitz tournament to determine the numbers of the players in the tournament table, followed by the first classical game on 4 June at 5PM. Armaggeddon games will be played after all classical games have been concluded.
For the full program, tournament photos, broadcast, regulations and visitors information please refer to the tournament official website https://norwaychess.no/en/