Norway Chess 2026 R4: Carlsen Beats Gukesh in Table-Slam Rematch as Firouzja's Run Finally Stalls

One year ago at Norway Chess, Magnus Carlsen threw away a winning position against Gukesh, slammed the table hard enough to send the pieces jumping off the board, and walked out seething. It became the defining moment of the 2025 edition.

On Thursday in Oslo, Carlsen got his rematch. Black pieces again. And this time, he didn't flinch.

Carlsen's classical win over the World Champion was the only decisive game of Round 4, lifting him from last place to fourth. Alireza Firouzja still leads, but Wesley So finally ended his winning streak by taking the Armageddon, while Praggnanandhaa beat Vincent Keymer in another tiebreak to consolidate sole second.

Open Results

Standings After Round 4

Carlsen's Revenge

After two classical losses in his first three games, Carlsen came into Round 4 at the bottom of the table. He told interviewer Anna Rudolf he wasn't feeling particularly motivated: "I kind of had a little bit enough after just playing really poorly three days in a row."

Low expectations, apparently, suit him.

Carlsen played 6...Qd6!? in the Sicilian, a move that would surprise not only his coach Peter Heine Nielsen but Carlsen himself. Visiting the confessional booth during the game, he admitted: "I'm pretty much, I wouldn't say clueless, not completely clueless, but fairly clueless!"

"Fairly clueless" proved enough. While Gukesh's 9.Nb5 caught Carlsen off guard and cost him time, the World No. 1 navigated through the complications and, crucially, never lost control. As commentator David Howell put it, he "embraced chaos" rather than fighting it.

What made the difference was Gukesh's ambition. Carlsen noted: "I think with another player he could have probably played a little bit safer, but Gukesh doesn't have that style. He kind of wants to go for it, so provocation works in the sense that you get a game."

The critical moment was 28...f4!, creating powerful threats against Gukesh's king. If the pawn gets taken, the black queen arrives on h4 with devastating effect. Gukesh found the best defense with 29.Bd3! but missed the only continuation one move later, and Carlsen was ruthless from there. Gukesh resigned on move 42, undone by Carlsen's passed a-pawn.

No table slam this year.

The win jumped Carlsen from sixth to fourth, while Gukesh dropped to last. It's been a rough couple of years for the World Champion since winning the title at 18. He vowed then to become World No. 1 as well, but after this loss he sits 20th on the live rating list. He turns 20 on the rest day, with his World Championship defense against Sindarov approaching in November.

Sindarov himself was at the venue on Thursday, accompanying Bibisara Assaubayeva and exchanging a handshake with Carlsen on his way out.

So Ends Firouzja's Winning Streak

Wesley So became the first player to beat Firouzja in a match at Norway Chess 2026. The classical game was a 36-move draw in the Queen's Gambit Declined where So got in some offbeat preparation that burned Firouzja's clock, but nothing decisive materialized.

"I was hoping to win at some point the classical game," said So, who has been on fire since losing his Round 1 Armageddon to Praggnanandhaa.

The Armageddon was comprehensive. So dominated throughout, and while Firouzja staged a late comeback after losing a piece and running low on time, So reestablished control. Firouzja lost on time in what was already a losing position on the board.

"It was a good game by Wesley, I think, in Armageddon," Firouzja admitted. He was philosophical about the rest day: "I'm very happy for the rest day tomorrow. I will try to recover and enjoy the rest day!"

That's three Armageddon wins in a row for So after his Round 1 loss. And Firouzja, despite the stumble, still leads by 2.5 points. His two classical wins at the start of the tournament have built a buffer that even a perfect Armageddon record can't easily overcome.

Pragg Consolidates Second

Keymer and Praggnanandhaa produced the day's most frustrating classical game for both players. Keymer had a clear advantage in the middlegame but let it slip as time ran short: "I played a very nice game up until some point, and then time got less and less and I started making huge errors."

Praggnanandhaa, for his part, turned the tables but then failed to capitalize. He was winning toward the end and could have played on instead of accepting a draw by repetition. "It's a bit disappointing when you mess up such a good position," he said, consoling himself with the fact that at some point he'd have been happy just drawing the classical.

In the Armageddon, Keymer fell into Praggnanandhaa's preparation and blundered fatally on move 17. It was his fourth consecutive Armageddon loss. The German debutant admitted he hasn't yet adjusted to the format of playing rapid chess immediately after a classical game.

Praggnanandhaa sits in sole second, 2.5 points behind Firouzja. A long way to go, but six rounds remain.

Women's Event: Assaubayeva Extends Her Lead

All three classical games ended in draws for the second day running, but none were dull. The Armageddons then reshuffled the standings, with Assaubayeva pulling 1.5 points clear.

Assaubayeva 1.5-1 Ju Wenjun

In her first classical encounter with the Women's World Champion, Assaubayeva came close to a three-pointer. After Ju's erroneous 15...Nf5?, White gained a strong initiative and found the excellent 21.Bc2!, but then transferred the bishop to the wrong diagonal with 22.Bb3?! instead of controlling f5 first with 22.g4 or 22.Nh4. The advantage evaporated.

The Armageddon was more clinical. Assaubayeva deployed a well-prepared pawn sacrifice with 6.d5 followed by 7.Nd4!? in the Queen's Indian. Ju weakened her dark squares with 11...g6?, and the consequences haunted her for the rest of the game. Assaubayeva called it "a very good idea for Armageddon" and summed up: "Yeah, nice game!"

Ju has now lost all four of her Armageddon games in Oslo but maintained perspective: "I care more about the classical quality."

Divya 1-1.5 Muzychuk

Divya Deshmukh found a genuine edge in the classical game, improving on a 2024 World Blitz encounter between Lodici and Sindarov with the excellent 13.Bb2! and 14.c4!. She had a lasting advantage for most of the game but couldn't convert before the time control at move 40.

The Armageddon was a disaster. Drained by the classical effort, Divya was outplayed and, on the final move, left her queen hanging. The position was headed for a draw anyway (which counts as a Black win in Armageddon), but the blunder was a painful punctuation mark.

Muzychuk, who admitted "I think we both played awful," was happy to survive the classical and joins the chasing pack at 5.5.

Humpy 1-1.5 Zhu Jiner

The classical game produced the cleanest draw of the round, with neither player missing a clear win. Zhu said she felt she had initiative in the middlegame but couldn't find a way through.

The Armageddon was all Zhu. Humpy went for a dubious aggressive plan with 8.Rg1 and 9.g4, and Zhu's logical responses left White's king fatally exposed. Humpy identified her own mistake: "Probably I should have played h5 instead of b4. b4 was just too stupid."

Women's Standings After Round 4

Round 5 Pairings (May 30)

After the rest day, Round 5 on Saturday brings Carlsen-So in the open, a test for whether Carlsen's classical form has truly returned. Firouzja faces Keymer looking to resume his winning ways, while Pragg takes on the struggling Gukesh.

In the women's event, Muzychuk gets Assaubayeva, a chance to close the 1.5-point gap. Every player in both events still has a realistic path to first place, but the window is narrowing.

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Norway Chess 2026 runs May 25 to June 5 at Deichman Bjorvika in Oslo. Follow the games live on Chess.com or on Chess24's YouTube and Twitch channels.

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