Final Standings

In the GM group Norwegians GM Frode Urkedal and FM Eivind Grunt Kreken both made 6½ points from 9 rounds. Urkedal had the better tiebreak and took first place. Kreken made his second IM-norm with a 1-point margin, but was ½ point behind the GM-norm. There were no other title norms.

Third place went to IM Balazs Csonka of Hungary with the best tiebreak of 8 players with 6 points.

Kreken and Urkedal
(Photo: Tom Eriksen)

The open group was won by Isai Sivaparan with 7 points. 14-year-old Sivaparan is the reigning Nordic champion in the under-13 category. Sondre Stai, August Solbu and Christian Neukamm all made 6½ points and took second to fourth place respectively.

Neukamm, Sivaparan, Stai and Solbu
(Photo: Tom Eriksen)

Possible title norms

List of title norm candidates before round 9:

IM Balazs Csonka (HUN):	Needs a win as white against GM Raja Rithvik R (IND) for a GM-norm.
IM Arystanbek Urazayev (KAZ):	Needs a win as white against GM Diptayan Ghosh (IND) for a GM-norm.
FM Eivind G. Kreken (NOR):	Has already secured his second IM-norm even if he loses the last round.
CM Indy Southcott-Moyers (ENG):	Needs a win as white against IM Lukas Dotzer (AUT) for an IM-norm.

Blitz

Fagernes Blitz was played Saturday 19 April after round 8 of the main tournament. There were 26 participants.

Norwegian FM Jacob Grave took first place with 7 points from 9 games. Another Norwegian, FM Gunnar Lund, got second place with 6½ points. Indian IM Aradha Garg also made 6½ points and copied his third place from the previous day.

IM Eshaan Hebbar (USA), IM Mads Vestby-Ellingsen (NOR) and Per Fredrik Holand (NOR) followed with 6 points on places 4 to 6.

Top 3: Lund, Grave and Garg
(Photo: Tom Eriksen)

Slow Blitz

Fagernes Slow Blitz was played Friday 18 April after round 7 of the main tournament. There were 40 participants.

The A-group was pretty strong, with 11 titled players. Norwegian IM Mads Vestby-Ellingsen took first place with 6 points in 7 rounds. Swedish GM Erik Blomqvist was second with 5½ points, followed by Indian IM Aradha Garg and Singaporean CM Ashwatt Kaushik on 5 points.

Blomqvist, Vestby-Ellingsen and Garg
(Photo: Tom Eriksen) 

The B-group also got a Norwegian winner, Terje Kevin G. Lysen with 6 points. Ukrainian Mykhailo Kuzmenko in second place had 5 points, while August Minh Brattgjerd was third with 4½.

Kuzmenko, Lysen and Brattgjerd
(Photo: Tom Eriksen)

Teamtalkingchess

The Teamtalkingchess Tournament at Fagernes was won by Hans Majestet Lahlum with 8 team points. Teamtalkingchess is a Norwegian speciality. You find the rules here.

The winning team consisted of IM Aksel Bu Kvaløy, FM Evsuld Myagmarsuren, FM Martin Holten Fiskaaen and David Mindrestrømmen Simonsen.

Draculas hjelpere was second and Shadi Sian's friends third, both with 6 team points.

The winners: Hans Majestet Lahlum
(Photo: Terje Holten)

The tournament starts today

The first round of Fagernes Chess International 2025 is played today at 17.30 CET. When registration has finished at 16.00 CET you will find the pairings here. All games will be sent live with a 15-minute delay at Lichess, ChessBase and Chess.com.

The playing venue
(Photo: Tom Eriksen)

Welcome to Fagernes Chess International 2025!

The tournament is played at the major Norwegian Chess Hotel Scandic Valdres at Fagernes, 187 km north of Oslo.

Main organizer is Hans Olav Lahlum in cooperation with Sotra Sjakklubb.

Hans Olav Lahlum

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Hans Olav Lahlum (born 1973) is a well known Norwegian chess player, chess organizer and chess TV commentator, having the titles of International Organizer (IO) and International Arbiter (IA) from the World Chess Federation FIDE. 

Lahlum organized numerous international tournaments at Gausdal 1999-2008, Oslo 2011-2014 and Fagernes 2014-2024. 

He has also been chief arbiter in many other large tournaments including the Norwegian championships 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019.