Press release

10.10.18

Norway Chess has since its inception in 2013 aimed to increase the commercial aspects of chess in order to bring chess to new fans around the world.

Norway Chess is the first chess tournament screened on national live television in Norway. Norway Chess introduced innovative aspects to chess tournaments such as the confessional booth, unique playing venues, and commercial sponsorships.

New format

We are now introducing a new, exciting playing format. The overall goal is to create a tournament with fewer draws per game, create more excitement for spectators and put more pressure on the players.

How it works

Each player will have 2 hours on the clock per game, without any increments.

2 points will be given for victory, ½ point for draw and 0 points for loss.

The players that have games that end with a draw will continue in an Armageddon play-off only a few minutes after their game. The player with the white pieces will continue with white in the Armageddon game. 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. The winner in the Armageddon play-off gets 1 point.

The Armageddon games will not add to the rating of the players, only contributing to the results list in the tournament, which is FIDE rated.

Players will get following points per round:

Victory main game: 2 points

Loss main game: 0 points

Draw main game & loss Armageddon: ½ point

Draw main game & victory Armageddon: 1.5 points

The 7thedition of Altibox Norway Chess will take place June 3-15, 2019.