Norway Chess 2025: Arjun, Gukesh experience contrasting fortunes in Round 5; Humpy moves into sole lead

Arjun Erigaisi and D Gukesh experienced contrasting fortunes in their respective Armageddon playoffs after being held to a draw in Round 5 of the 2025 Norway Chess on Saturday. While Arjun defeated Hikaru Nakamura, Gukesh lost to Wei Yi. The latest round of fixtures witnessed all the Classical games in the ‘Open’ section end in a draw, with world No 1 and defending champion Magnus Carlsen going on to win his Armageddon playoff against Fabiano Caruana.

Indian Grandmasters Gukesh and Arjun, ranked third and fourth respectively in the world, were playing with black and white pieces respectively as action resumed on Saturday after the first of two rest days in the elite tournament that is taking place in in Stavanger, Norway.

More from Chess

Gukesh remains within grasp of Norway Chess title after beating Chinese No 1; Carlsen regains top spot D Gukesh fights back from 'nearly lost' position to beat Arjun Erigaisi, overtakes Carlsen in Norway Chess standings

Arjun beats Hikaru in Armageddon while Gukesh loses to Wei

Both games witnessed hard-fought battles lasting more than 70 moves in which neither side refused to concede an inch; while Arjun and Hikaru were left only with their kings on the board, Gukesh and Wei had a rook each as well. Both Armageddon playoffs, however, were won by the playing with white pieces.

Hikaru crumbled under time pressure to resign in 48 moves against Arjun despite having his queen on the board, with the latter having over three minutes left on the clock. That wasn’t the case in Gukesh’s loss against Wei, in which the 19-year-old found his king cornered from all sides and raised the white flag of surrender by the 56th move.

Carlsen would have collected half-a-point had he held world No 5 Caruana to a draw in the Armageddon playoff as well but chose to make a statement with a victory in 56 moves by boxing the American GM’s king into a corner along the right flank of the board.

Carlsen and Caruana currently leading the ‘Open’ standings with 9.5 and 8 points respectively, with Hikaru and Arjun third and fourth with 6.5 and 6 points respectively. Chinese GM Wei, meanwhile, is joint-fifth with Gukesh after catching up with the Chennai lad with his Armageddon win.

Magnus Carlsen keeps the lead in #NorwayChess with 9.5 points, followed by Fabiano Caruana on 8.
In Norway Chess Women, Humpy Koneru is half a point ahead of Anna Muzychuk, leading with 8.5.

📷 Norway Chess / Tor Nilssen & Kjetil V. Tveito pic.twitter.com/GCDnfrh9U0

— Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) May 31, 2025

Humpy on top as Vaishali collects first Classical win

The only Classical victory on Saturday came in the ‘Women’ section, in which Indian GM R Vaishali defeated Spanish International Master Sara Khadem in just 35 moves while playing with black pieces. As a result of her clinical victory, Vaishali moved to the fourth spot with 6.5 points.

Fellow Indian GM Koneru Humpy, meanwhile, moved past Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk into the sole lead after holding China’s Lei Tingjie to a draw and beating her in the Armageddon playoff in 38 moves while playing with white pieces. Muzychuk, on the other hand, also drew her Armageddon game against Chinese GM Ju Wenjun while playing with white pieces, which resulted in her opponent getting half an extra point.