Arctic Securities Chess Stars Tournament

Magnus Carlsen beats world champion Vishy Anand in the final

It was an exciting weekend for the Norwegian chess fans. Kristiansund Chessclub hosted the Arctic Securities Chess Stars rapid tournament, which was a fantastic opportunity to see world champion Vishy Anand, world's top rated player Magnus Carlsen, best female player of all time Judit Polgar and local hope Jon Ludvig Hammer in action.

The preliminary double round robin competition took place on 28th and 29th August. Anand convincingly won the race by collecting 5.0 points, while Carlsen with 3.5 also qualified for the final match. Hammer with 2.0 and Polgar with 1.5 were set to play two-games match for the third place.

The match phase was played on Monday, 30th August. Carlsen defeated Anand in the first game and then held a draw in the second to win the mini-match and claim the trophy. Hammer completed the Norwegian triumph by winning the match against Polgar with the same score 1.5-0.5.

Chessdom-Chessbomb game platform was the official Arctic Securities Chess Stars broadcast service.

Press conference with the players, photo by Andrei Olsen

Kristiansund Grand Prix open tournament with six rounds was played on 26-29th August. It was a close finish, where the first prize changed several times during the last hour. In the end the Swede Emanuel Berg had the best tiebreak. Six of the top nine players came from Sweden.

Vladimir Georgiev (2nd), Emanuel Berg (1st) and Evgeny Romanov (3rd)