The opening round of Norway Chess 2025 delivered a marquee clash that lived up to the hype, as Magnus Carlsen launched a classic king hunt to defeat the reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a thrilling encounter. This marked their first classical meeting since Gukesh claimed the world title, and it was also Carlsen’s return to individual classical chess after nearly a year away.
Despite his 12-month hiatus from classical tournaments, Carlsen showed no signs of rust in his comeback performance.
“He’s an ambitious player,” Carlsen remarked about Gukesh during the live commentary, as quoted by Chess.com. “So I didn’t expect the game to be flat, especially since he managed to equalize early on.”
When asked if the victory held special significance given it was against the current world champion, Carlsen downplayed the notion. “Not necessarily,” he said. “But every win in this tournament is hard-earned, so I’m happy with it.”
In another classical game of the day, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura outlasted Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana in a long, intense battle. Nakamura capitalized on Caruana’s time pressure to secure the win.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi also made an impressive debut at Norway Chess by defeating fellow newcomer Grandmaster Wei Yi in the armageddon round.
In the women’s section, Grandmaster Koneru Humpy notched the only classical victory of the round, taking advantage of a crucial mistake from Grandmaster Vaishali Rameshbabu. Though Vaishali defended admirably for most of the game, she eventually cracked under pressure, allowing Humpy to claim the win.
The remaining women’s games were decided in armageddon format. Grandmaster Anna Muzychuk outplayed International Master Sara Khadem, while Grandmaster Lei Tingjie defeated Women’s World Champion Grandmaster Ju Wenjun.
