World champion D. Gukesh will have a shot at rediscovering his touch ahead of his world championship title defence at the Norway Chess. | Photo Credit: Micha Walusza

The Deichman Bjorvika public library, overlooking the Oslofjord waterfront and located just a couple of kilometres from the Nobel Peace Centre, will host the Norway Chess 2026 tournament, with six of the world’s best players in both the Open and Women’s sections.

India will have four representatives in the event—D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa in the Open category, alongside Koneru Humpy and World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh in the women’s field.

Format

The tournament is a double-round event consisting of 10 rounds of classical chess.

Time format for classical games: Each player has 120 minutes for the game, with a 10-second increment starting from move 41. Players cannot agree to a draw until at least 30 moves have been played.

If a classical game ends in a draw, an Armageddon game is played within 20 minutes to decide the winner.

Time Control for Armageddon: White has 10 minutes; Black has seven minutes. Both have a one-second increment from move 41. If the Armageddon game is drawn, Black is declared the winner.

Scoring System:

Win (Classical): 3 points

Loss (Classical): 0 points

Draw (Classical) & Win (Armageddon): 1½ points

Draw (Classical) & Loss (Armageddon): 1 point

Tie-breaks

If players are tied for first place, a playoff occurs. This involves either a blitz match (for two players) or a double round-robin tournament (for more than two players), followed by Armageddon if necessary.

Schedule

• May 25: Round 1
• May 26: Round 2
• May 27: Round 3
• May 28: Round 4
• May 29: Rest Day
• May 30: Round 5
• May 31: Round 6
• June 1: Round 7
• June 2: Round 8
• June 3: Rest Day
• June 4: Round 9
• June 5: Round 10

All rounds start at 8:30 PM IST.

Prize Money

The total prize fund of the Tournament is 1 690 000 NOK. Distribution of Prize money occurs as followed:

• 1st Place: 700,000 NOK
• 2nd Place: 350,000 NOK
• 3rd Place: 200,000 NOK
• 4th Place: 170,000 NOK
• 5th Place: 150,000 NOK
• 6th Place: 120,000 NOK

1 Norwegian Krone (NOK) ≈ 10.32 Indian Rupee (INR).

Streaming Info

The tournament will be streamed live online through the official Norway Chess YouTube channel. In India, the tournament will be broadcast on TV by Mirror Now

Published on May 24, 2026