Carlsen and Ding shine in Armageddon tiebreaks as Norway Chess reaches its final round

As the Norway Chess tournament edges towards its thrilling conclusion, the stakes have never been higher. All games in the prestigious Norway Chess tournament ended in a draw, which means they had to continue with an Armageddon game to determine a match winner.

Magnus Carlsen won the Armageddon tiebreak game against Firouzja, and World Champion Ding Liren won the tiebreak game against Hikaru Nakamura. This means that a win in the last round for Carlsen would guarantee him winning the tournament outright, while Nakamura likely needs to win the last game with Black against Praggnanandhaa to have a shot at winning the tournament. The Indian teenager Praggnanandhaa’s chances of winning are slim, but not zero; he must win against Nakamura tomorrow and hope Magnus loses.

Credits: Norway Chess / Stev Bonhage

In the Norway Chess Women’s tournament, the only classical win of the day came from the Lei Tingjie vs. Vaishali Rameshbabu game, where Lei scored a decisive victory with the white pieces in under 30 moves. With this win, Lei has significantly increased her chances of winning the tournament in the last round, while Vaishali’s chances of winning the tournament are lost. Both Lei Tingjie and Anna Muzychuk are 1.5 points behind the leader, Ju Wenjun, before going into the last round on Friday, June 7th. Lei is in a must win situation with Black against the World Champion, Ju Wenjun, to win the tournament.

Credits: Norway Chess / Stev Bonhage