GM Fabiano Caruana beat GM Arjun Erigaisi in round three of Norway Chess 2025 to take the sole lead, while World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju hit back after two losses to defeat GM Hikaru Nakamura on his 19th birthday. GM Magnus Carlsen had another frustrating day at the office, as he missed winning chances against GM Wei Yi in classical chess then lost in armageddon.
GM Koneru Humpy has caught GM Anna Muzychuk in the lead of the Women’s Norway Chess 2025, both now on six points. Humpy won the only classical game, against IM Sara Khadem, while Muzychuk survived a bad position in armageddon against GM Lei Tingjie to hold a draw with Black. GM Ju Wenjun defeated GM Vaishali Rameshbabu in a 19-move miniature in their armageddon game.
This is a flash report—come back later for player quotes and analysis!
Round four starts Thursday, May 29, at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST.
Norway Chess Round 3 Results
For a third day in a row, half of the classical games were decisive, with three points for Caruana, Gukesh, and Humpy.
Caruana started with a loss but has now taken the sole leader after co-leaders Arjun and Nakamura both lost in round three. A draw in classical chess was enough for Carlsen to move up to sole second place.
Norway Chess Standings After Round 3
Gukesh’s victory over Nakamura was a hugely welcome result for the world champion as he turned 19 (in India) during the game…
World Champion Gukesh celebrates his 19th birthday with a bounce-back win over Nakamura! https://t.co/JYFo8tLvPA#NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/1pHkMLwiRS
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 28, 2025
…but our Game of the Day is Caruana’s spectacular win over Arjun, which GM Rafael Leitao will analyze in detail below:
Caruana lost to Nakamura in Round 1 of #NorwayChess, but now he’s won 2 games in a row to take the lead! https://t.co/0Ji4s21xeS#NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/lJFOUdN9za
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 28, 2025
It took no time at all for Humpy to return to the shared lead. She’s had three decisive classical games in three rounds, with two of them going her way.
Norway Chess Women’s Standings After Round 3
NM Anthony Levin contributed to this report.
How to watch?
Norway Chess 2025 features Open and Women’s six-player tournaments for equal prize funds of 1,690,000 NOK (~$167,000). It runs May 26 to June 6 in Stavanger, with players facing their opponents twice at classical chess (120 minutes/40 moves, with a 10-second increment from move 41). The winner of a classical game gets three points, the loser, zero; after a draw, the players get one point and fight for another half-point in armageddon (10 minutes for White, seven for Black, who has draw odds).
Previous coverage: