New Delhi, May 27 (HS): The Norway Chess Tournament 2025 has kicked off with a bang. On the very first day, former world champion Magnus Carlsen sent a strong message by defeating the reigning world champion D. Gukesh.

This match took place on Monday in Stavanger, Norway. Notably, this was the first classical encounter between Gukesh and Carlsen since Gukesh won the world title in Singapore.

In another exciting match, India's Arjun Erigaisi defeated China's Wei Yi in an Armageddon tiebreak after their classical game ended in a draw.

In the women's category, a tough contest was witnessed among Indian players, where Koneru Hampi had a fantastic start to her campaign by defeating R. Vaishali.

After the first round, the points tally is as follows:

In the Open category, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are jointly at the top with 3 points each. Arjun Erigaisi has 1.5 points, while Wei Yi is in fourth place with 1 point. Fabiano Caruana and D. Gukesh are yet to open their accounts.

In the women’s category, Koneru Hampi is in first place with 3 points. Anna Muzychuk and Li Tingjie have 1.5 points each. Ju Wenjun and Sara Khadem are tied with 1 point each, while R. Vaishali is yet to score her first point.

In the upcoming matches, we can expect intense competition between young and experienced players.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar