Fagernes in 2025

Fagernes Chess International will be back 13-20 April 2025. More information to be found at fagerneschess2025.blogspot.com.

Final standings

In the GM-group GM Rinat Jumabayev from Kazakhstan and IM Jonah B. Willow from England both made 7 points from 9 rounds. The tie-break was in Jumabayev's favor, so he made his second tournament win at Fagerns this year.

Third place went to English IM Ameet K. Ghasi on 6½ points, edging out Norwegian GM Elham Amar who also had 6½. Both Willow and Ghasi made GM-norms.

Ghasi, Willow, Jumabayev and Amar
(Photo: Tom Eriksen)

The Open group was won by Håvard Eriksen Bech from Norway on 8 points. Mikkel Damtoft Solbakken (NOR) on 7 took second place, while third place was shared between Benjamin Spagnoli (FRA) and Nikolai Olsen Wernberg (NOR) with 6½ points and identical tie-breaks.

Bech, Solbakken, Wernberg and Spagnoli
(Photo: Tom Eriksen)

 

Title norms

Two English IMs made GM-norms in Fagernes International Autumn 2024. We congratulate IM Jonah B. Willow and IM Ameet K. Ghasi. This was Willow's first norm and Ghasi's third.

In addition Norwegian CM Martin Holten Fiskaaen made his first IM-norm.

Willow and Ghasi made GM-norms
(Photo: Monica Lauvik Fjeldstad)

Fiskaaen made an IM-norm
(Photo: Monica Lauvik Fjeldstad)

Possible title norms

List of title norm candidates before round 9:

IM Jonah B Willow (ENG):	Needs a draw as black against IM Aksel Bu Kvaløy for a GM-norm.
IM Ameet K Ghasi (ENG):	Needs a win as white against GM Frode Olav Olsen Urkedal for a GM-norm.
CM Martin Holten Fiskaaen (NOR):	Needs a draw as white against GM Tiger Hillarp for an IM-norm.
CM Martin Øksendal (NOR):	Needs a win as black against IM Benny Aizenberg for an IM-norm.

Fagernes Autumn Blitz II NGP

Fagernes Autumn Blitz II NGP was played Saturday 12 October 2024 with 22 participants.

GM Elham Amar of Norway and IM Ludvig Carlsson of Sweden both made 7½ points in 9 rounds. Amar had a slightly better tiebreak, and so took his second blitz tournament win in two days. FM Ritvik Krishnan of India made 7 points and took third place, followed by FM Sergey Eliseev (NOR) med 6½ and FM Raem Sherman (ISR) with 6 points.

Amar won Fagernes Autumn Blitz II NGP
(Photo: Monica Lauvik Fjeldstad)

Fagernes Autumn Slow Blitz NGP

Fagernes Autumn Slow Blitz NGP was played Friday 11 October 2024 with 29 participants.

Top-ratet GM Elham Amar of Norway took clear first in the A-group with 6½ points from 7 games. FM Shazil Shehzad (NOR), Advaitt Srikant Koduri (IND), IM Aksel Bu Kvaløy (NOR) and FM Raem Sherman (ISR) were all 2 whole points behind the winner.

The B-group was won by Daniel O. Vollheim with 5½ points, ahead of Edvard Reinertsen with 5. Mikael Ruud and Sophie Damiano both made 4½ points. The best non-Norwegian player was Mykhailo Kuzmenko of Ukraine with 4 points in fifth place.

Top-3 in the A-group:
Shehzad, Amar and Koduri
(Photo: Monica Lauvik Fjeldstad)

Teamtalkingchess

The social Teamtalkingchess tournament was played Thursday 10 October 2024 with 8 teams. It was a very close race, with four teams ending on 6 teams points.

Winners, with the most individual points, were the Norwegian team 4 sverd i Hafrsfjord, featuring IM Aksel Bu Kvaløy, FM Shazil Shehzad, Martin Holten Fiskaaen and David M. Simonsen.

In second place we find the Indian team 3 Idiots with GM Sayantan Das, FM Balaji Guttula and FM Kush Bhagat.

Third place went to another Norwegian team, Shadi, hvor er deodoranten?, with FM Sergey Eliseev, Martin Øksendal, Shadi Sian and Peder Aamodt

4 sverd i Hafrsfjord:
Shehzad, Kvaløy, Fiskaaen og Simonsen
(Photo: Henrik Sjøl)

The day has come

Fagernes International Autumn starts today with 94 participants.

Highest rated is the reigning Fagernes champion GM Rinat Jumbayev (KAZ 2577), who won the Easter tournament with 7 points from 9 rounds. 

GM Krishnan Sasikiran (IND 2571) is second-ranked, followed by GM Frode Urkedal (NOR 2559), GM Titas Stremavicius (LIT 2541) and GM Elham Amar (NOR 2540).

The first round will start at 17.30 CET. Pairings and results may be found here.

The live games will have a 15-minute delay.

The playing venue
(Photo: Tom Eriksen)

 

First list of participants published

The first list of participants has been published. 

In the GM-group GM Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ 2565) is highest rated ahead of GM Frode Urkedal (NOR 2551), GM Elham Aamar (NOR 2542), GM Titas Stremavicius (LIT 2538) and GM Kaido Kulaots (EST 2517).

More GMs and other titled players will be added to the field later.

Welcome to 
Fagernes International Autumn!

The tournament is played at the major Norwegian Chess Hotel Scandic Valdres

at Fagernes, 187 km north of Oslo.

Main organizer is Hans Olav Lahlum in cooperation with Sotra Sjakklubb.

Hans Olav Lahlum

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Hans Olav Lahlum (born 1973) is a well known Norwegian chess player, chess organizer and chess TV commentator, having the titles of International Organizer (IO) and International Arbiter (IA) from the World Chess Federation FIDE. 

Lahlum organized numerous international tournaments at Gausdal 1999-2008, Oslo 2011-2014 and Fagernes 2014-2024. 

He has also been chief arbiter in many other large tournaments including the Norwegian championships 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019.