Good & Bad News for Americans as Norway Begins

The Altibox Norway Chess Tournament kicked off with victory for American Wesley So, who took down the blitz tournament, half a point ahead of fellow American Hikaru Nakamura and a full point ahead of World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Wesley had arrived early in Norway to give a simultaneous exhibition, and karma appeared to be on his side- finishing first in the blitz allowed him to choose his pairing number in the event. https://twitter.com/NorwayChess/status/1000409271811674117 Among So's blitz victories was a slasher against Sergey Karjakin.

[pgn]

[Event "Altibox Norway Chess Blitz"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2824"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[EventType "blitz"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Be3 Bd6 8.
h3 c5 9. g4 Nd7 10. Ne2 Nb8 11. Ng3 Nc6 12. Nf5 Re8 13. h4 Bf8 14. h5 a5 15. c3
a4 16. Qc2 Be6 17. Ng5 c4 18. O-O-O cxd3 19. Rxd3 Qc8 20. Nxe6 Qxe6 21. Kb1 Na5
22. Qxa4 b5 23. Qc2 Reb8 24. b3 Nc4 25. Bc1 Na3+ 26. Bxa3 Rxa3 27. Rhd1 g6 28.
hxg6 fxg6 29. Ne3 c6 30. Rd8 Raa8 31. R8d7 Bc5 32. Qd2 Rf8 33. Nf5 Qf6 34. Qh6
Rf7 35. g5 Qe6 36. Rd8+ Bf8 37. Rxa8 1-0

[/pgn]

Round one of the Main Event featured the titanic preview battle between World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Challenger Fabiano Caruana. https://twitter.com/TarjeiJS/status/1001160259191431168

[pgn]

[Event "Altibox Norway Chess"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.05.28"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Nbxd2 a5 8.
c3 Nbd7 9. exd5 cxd5 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Re8 12. Nf1 b5 13. a4 b4 14. cxb4 axb4
15. Ne3 Bb7 16. d4 e4 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. dxe5 Rxe5 19. Qd4 Re7 20. Rac1 Rd7 21.
Red1 h6 22. Rc5 Ra5 23. Rxa5 Qxa5 24. h3 Kh7 25. Rc1 Rc7 26. Rxc7 Qxc7 27. Qxb4
Qc1+ 28. Bd1 Ba6 29. Qd4 Be2 30. Kh2 Bxd1 31. Nxd1 Qc7+ 32. Kg1 Qc1 33. b4 e3
34. fxe3 Ne4 35. Qxd5 Nd2 36. Qf5+ Kh8 37. Qg4 f5 38. Qe2 Ne4 39. Qe1 Qa1 40.
a5 Nd6 41. Qd2 Nc4 42. Qd4 Qc1 43. Kf1 Nxe3+ 44. Qxe3 Qxd1+ 45. Kf2 Qc2+ 46.
Kg3 g5 47. Qe5+ Kh7 48. Kh2 f4 49. Qd5 Qa4 50. Qf7+ Kh8 51. Qg6 Qxb4 52. Qxh6+
Kg8 53. Qxg5+ Kh7 54. Qh5+ Kg7 55. Qg5+ Kh7 56. h4 Qd6 57. Qh5+ Kg7 58. Qg5+
Kh7 59. h5 f3+ 60. g3 f2 61. Qg6+ Kh8 62. Qxd6 f1=Q 63. Qh6+ Kg8 64. Qe6+ Kh8
65. Qe3 Qb5 66. Qc3+ Kh7 67. g4 Qd5 68. Qc7+ Kg8 69. Kg3 Qe6 70. Qd8+ Kh7 71.
Qd3+ Kh8 72. a6 Qe5+ 73. Kh3 Qa1 74. Qd8+ Kh7 75. Qe7+ Kh6 76. Qe3+ Kh7 77. a7
1-0

[/pgn]

Although Fabiano lost the game, even the World Champion pondered whether it had any longterm significance. https://twitter.com/MagnusCarlsen/status/1001196441530961921 The other four round one classical games were drawn, including an interesting battle between Nakamura and Ding Liren.

[pgn]

[Event "Altibox Norway Chess"]
[Date "2018.05.28"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "China"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CHN"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 Ne4 6. Nf3 Bf5 7. d3 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 c5 9. d4 Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. Be2 Be7 12. O-O O-O 13. a4 Rac8 14. Ra2 a6
15. Rb2 c4 16. Ne1 b5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Bg4 Bxg4 19. Qxg4 h5 20. Qxh5 b4 21.
Qg4 Rfe8 22. Nf3 Qa3 23. Rc2 b3 24. Rcc1 Qa2 25. Qf5 Ra8 26. Bg5 Qe2 27. Qd7
Bxg5 28. Nxg5 Ne7 29. e6 f6 30. Nf7 Ng6 31. Nh6+ gxh6 32. Qf7+ Kh8 33. Qxf6+
Kh7 34. Qf7+ Kh8 35. Qf6+ Kh7 36. Qf7+ Kh8 37. Qf6+ 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjRHvsPHMlV/?taken-by=gmhikaru Daily rounds begin at 10:30 am EST on Tuesday, May 28. Watch live at http://live.norwaychess.com/ or Chess.com/TV. For more information, visit: