World Chess Weekly: Classical Takes Centre Stage In Norway And Bucharest
It's a tight turnaround this weekend as the elite Superbet Chess Classic Romania ends and Norway Chess, perhaps the game's most innovative classical event, gets under way.
With two rounds to go in Bucharest, GM Vincent Keymer has been caught at the top of the leaderboard by GM Fabiano Caruana, and the Dutchman GM Jorden van Foreest. It's now anyone's tournament before Round 8 starts at 15:10 CEST.
Watch it here:
The tournament, the second leg of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour (GCT), has been full of incident. GM Alireza Firouzja's ankle—and his eventual withdrawl because of it—has taken most of the attention. Chess, after all, is not normally a sport where injuries occur.
But there's also been some sparkling play. Keymer has led from the front but in Round 7 he fell to the newly-installed World Championship Challenger GM Javokhir Sindarov.
The Uzbek beat the German to claim his first classical win since his triumph at the FIDE Candidates in Cyprus. Sindarov had gone 10 games without a win, not that you'd know it.
Caruana also moved up to world number-two in the live rankings, according to 2700chess.com. With a classical rating of 2793 FIDE, the American is now a point above GM Hikaru Nakamura.
Caruana's fellow American is not known as a fan of classical, but he'll still be seething.
So there has been plenty to get your teeth into for any local vampires in Romania.
Romania To Norway
Round 9 of the Superbet ends on Saturday and then it's a quick hop over to Oslo for Norway Chess at the city's magnificent Deichman Bjørvika.
Firouzja (ankle depending), Keymer, plus GMs Praggnanandhaa R and Wesley So—four of the six competing at Norway—are down to play both events.
They will face the might of GM Magnus Carlsen, fresh from his classical warm-up win at the TePe Sigeman event in Sweden earlier this month. Carlsen is a mainstay of Norway Chess, an investor, and a seven-time winner.
The final name is only the reigning World Champion, GM Gukesh D. Although he hasn't been in top form of late and needs a big performance.
Norway has built an even bigger profile this year having attracted investment from two more of Norway's biggest sports stars. World Cup-bound footballer Erling Haaland and cross-country skiing icon Johannes Høsflot Klæbo have both put their names behind it.
Norway Chess as an events company has also spread its wings even further. The outfit has also come to an agreement with the world governing body FIDE to pioneer the first Total World Chess Championship Tour to be held in Oslo later this year.
The Tour's test pilot is set for autumn 2026, leading up to the first full championship season in 2027.
Round 1 begins at 17:00 CEST on Monday, May 25.