Norway Chess 2025: Birthday boy Gukesh beats Caruana in Armageddon recreation; Carlsen defeats Arjun to regain lead

Reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju continued his regular progress after a poor begin within the 2025 Norway Chess, shifting to the joint-fourth spot after beating American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana in an Armageddon playoff whereas world No 1 Magnus Carlsen regained the highest spot on the standings after defeating Arjun Erigaisi in Spherical 4 on Thursday.

Arjun thus suffered his second consecutive defeat after beginning the match on a optimistic notice. As for the opposite board within the ‘Open’ part, top-ranked Chinese language participant Wei Yi defeated Hikaru Nakamura within the Armageddon playoff after holding the world No 2 to a stalemate within the Classical recreation.

Contrasting run for Gukesh and Arjun

Gukesh and Arjun, ranked third and fourth on this planet respectively, have had contrasting campaigns to this point within the elite match that’s going down in Stavanger, Norway. Gukesh started the match with back-to-back defeats adopted by a
scientific victory over Hikaru on the eve of his nineteenth birthday
on Wednesday and an Armageddon victory over Caruana.

Whereas there was little to separate the 2 of their Classical recreation that lasted 75 strikes earlier than the gamers determined to shake palms, Gukesh – who’s much more snug with Customary time controls than he’s within the sooner codecs – managed to place the American underneath time strain and ultimately beat him in 52 strikes.

For compatriot Arjun, it’s been the opposite means spherical with the 21-year-old defeating Wei within the Armageddon playoff first up earlier than defeating Gukesh in 62 strikes. He had misplaced to Caruana on Wednesday earlier than resigning in 48 strikes whereas taking part in with black items towards Carlsen, who additionally occurs to be the defending champion within the match.

Carlsen had
misplaced Armageddon playoffs towards Hikaru and Wei
on consecutive days after beginning his title defence with an exciting victory over Gukesh, and returned to successful methods on the fourth day of the competitors to take a seat on the high of the standings with 8 factors. Caruana and Nakamura presently are second and third with 7 and 5.5 factors every whereas Gukesh went degree with Arjun on 4.5 factors for the joint-fourth spot.

5 wins in Spherical 4 of #NorwayChess! ♟️🔥
One other high-stakes day in Stavanger because the match heats up.

♟️ Magnus Carlsen beats Arjun Erigaisi in classical and turns into the only real chief
♟️ Gukesh D defeats Fabiano Caruana in Armageddon
♟️ Wei Yi holds a draw with Black towards… pic.twitter.com/SIBonGB8Vl

— Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) Might 29, 2025

Humpy stays in joint-lead regardless of dropping Armageddon recreation

And within the girls’s part, Anna Muzychuk and Koneru Humpy remained within the joint-lead with seven factors regardless of dropping their Armageddon tie-breakers towards Ju Wenjun and R Vaishali respectively after their Classical matches led to a stalemate.

Sara Khadem was the one participant on the fourth day of the competitors apart from Carlsen to win a Classical recreation, pulling off a gritty victory China’s Lei Tingjie – the highest-rated participant within the ‘Ladies’ part – in a recreation lasting 71 strikes whereas taking part in with black items.

Khadem thus moved forward of Lei to the fourth spot whereas Vaishali remained on the backside of the ‘Ladies’ standings with 3.5 factors.