Carlsen returns to OTB at Altibox Norway Chess 2020
The entire chess universe is craving for some over-the-board action. For the first time since July, an over-the-board super tournament, eighth edition of Altibox Norway Chess will start from 5th October. The most interesting thing about this tournament is every game will have a winner. All draws will be decided in Armageddon. Defending champion of the event, World Champion Carlsen will be seen in action along with Aronian, Caruana, Duda, Firouzja and Aryan Tari. Carlsen has only won this tournament two times out of all seven editions. The other winners are Karjakin (twice), Topalov, Aronian and Caruana. Will Carlsen win this tournament for the second year in-a-row and also for the third time? Catch all the action of Round 1 tonight from 8:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Norway Chess
Home field advantage for Carlsen?
Over-the-board chess returns today in Altibox Norway Chess 2020. It will take place between 5th and 16th October in Stavanger, Norway. Total 1810000 NOK or ₹1.4 Crore (approx. €166474) prize fund is up grabs with the first prize being 700000 NOK (€64.3K or ₹5527936 approx.). World Champion Carlsen will be back to defend his Altibox Norway title and as always he is the favorite to win the event. There will be two rest days after every four rounds on Friday 9th October and Wednesday 14th October. The tournament will be played in Double Round-Robin format. There are total 10 Rounds which will start everyday at 8:30 p.m. IST.
Pairings and Schedule
Round 1 – October 5th:
Levon Aronian – Magnus Carlsen
Aryan Tari – Fabiano Caruana
Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Alireza Firouzja
Round 2 – October 6th:
Magnus Carlsen – Alireza Firouzja
Fabiano Caruana – Jan-Krzysztof Duda
Levon Aronian – Aryan Tari
Round 3 – October 7th:
Aryan Tari – Magnus Carlsen
Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Levon Aronian
Alireza Firouzja – Fabiano Caruana
Round 4 – October 8th:
Magnus Carlsen – Fabiano Caruana
Levon Aronian – Alireza Firouzja
Aryan Tari – Jan-Krzysztof Duda
First Rest Day - October 9th
Round 5 – October 10th:
Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Magnus Carlsen
Alireza Firouzja – Aryan Tari
Fabiano Caruana – Levon Aronian
Round 6 – October 11th:
Magnus Carlsen – Jan-Krzysztof Duda
Aryan Tari – Alireza Firouzja
Levon Aronian – Fabiano Caruana
Round 7 – October 12th:
Fabiano Caruana – Magnus Carlsen
Alireza Firouzja – Levon Aronian
Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Aryan Tari
Round 8 – October 13th:
Magnus Carlsen – Aryan Tari
Levon Aronian – Jan-Krzysztof Duda
Fabiano Caruana – Alireza Firouzja
Second Rest Day - October 14th
Round 9 – October 15th:
Alireza Firouzja – Magnus Carlsen
Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Fabiano Caruana
Aryan Tari – Levon Aronian
Round 10 – October 16th:
Magnus Carlsen – Levon Aronian
Fabiano Caruana – Aryan Tari
Alireza Firouzja – Jan-Krzysztof Duda
All games will start at 8:30 p.m. IST
Scoring
• Players will get following points per round:
Victory in main game: 3 points
Loss in main game: 0 points
Draw in main game & victory Armageddon: 1.5 points
Draw in main game & loss Armageddon: 1 point
Armageddon Rules
• If there is a draw in the classical game then the players will move on to Armageddon within 20 minutes after the draw.
• White pieces will continue with white in Armageddon. With this, there will be a winner in each game due to the fact that black pieces will win if the game ends in a draw.
Time Control
• Time control main game: Each player will have 120 minutes on the clock with an increment of 10 seconds after move 40. Participant is obliged to record the moves on the score sheet starting from the first move. A player can stop recording the moves when he has less than 5 minutes.
• Time control Armageddon game: white has 10 minutes and black has 7 minutes with an increment of 1 second per move, starting from move 41.
• Players are not allowed to agree on a draw until after move 30.
Tie-breaks
• In case of shared first place, there will be a blitz play-off to decide the winner. If two players share first place, there will be a 2-game match with 3 min. + 2 sec increment for each move. If this match ends in a tie, there will be an Armageddon game where white has 5 minutes and black has 4 minutes with an increment of 3 seconds per move, starting from move 61 with draw odds. If more than two players share first place, there will be a double round-robin with the following tiebreaks:
A: Sonneborn-Berger points.
B: Most wins.
C: Most wins with the black pieces.
D: Drawing of lots.
• Tiebreak for the main tournament.
A: Sonneborn-Berger points.
B: Most wins.
C: Most wins with the black pieces.
Prizes
| Rank | Prize |
| 1st | 700000 |
| 2nd | 370000 |
| 3rd | 230000 |
| 4th | 180000 |
| 5th | 170000 |
| 6th | 160000 |
Total Prize fund is NOK 1810000.
Participants
The tournament has a very good mixture of World's best top and youth players - World Champion Magnus Carlsen, World no.2 Fabiano Caruana, two-time World Cup winner and World no.9 Levon Aronian, Poland no.1 and World no.16 Jan Krzysztof Duda, World no.22 Alireza Firouzja and Norway no.2 Aryan Tari will be seen in action.
What is the World Champion up to lately?
Links
Follow Carlsen on twitter
Altibox Norway Chess official site
