CHENNAI: Few events in the chess calendar have risen to prominence like Norway Chess. First started in 2013, the annual Classical tournament has grown from strength to strength over the last decade. It has led to the likes of Garry Kasparov calling the event, held in the coastal city of Stavanger in the country's southwest, the Wimbledon equivalent of the game.
Kjell Madland, founder of Norway Chess, was in Mumbai on Friday to hold exploratory talks with interested parties in relation to hosting an event associated with Norway Chess in India next year. In an interview with this daily, Madland spoke about how NC became a household name in the world of chess, the possibility of having an Indian sponsor and the upcoming D. Gukesh v. Magnus Carlsen match at Norway Chess this year.
Excerpts:
On the origins of Norway Chess and how it became an important tournament
It was a big goal of ours from the very beginning, to do something different and big. We wanted it to be something like the Champions League for chess players. Something they (players) would strongly about, where everything would be professional from start to end. Not just for players but fans and sponsors also. We tried to do new things every year. That has led to different time controls (all drawn games finish with Armageddon style finishes), confession booths and so on.
On having multiple events of Norway Chess, in Dubai and India in the future
We are trying to discuss and explore what we can do because Norway Chess is a well known brand in the chess world and we have a lot of fans in India. It would be nice to find something and do a Norway Chess tournament in India (this would be different to the annual event in Stavanger).We have explored the possibility to do it. We have come into contact with people and there have been meetings. We hope we can find someone who wants to make this happen in India. The tournament is very global already.
On the presence of four Indians in the event in 2025 (Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Koneru Humpy and R Vaishali)
For us, Indian players have always been very important. It's nice that we can have them because we do have a lot of followers from India.
On getting to Gukesh to sign on for the tournament
He has played two times at Norway Chess, the first time he played at the Norway Open. I think he likes the tournament. We invited him to play in 2023 in the main tournament and he played very well (he finished third, just behind Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana). One of the reasons he got into the Candidates was because he got a lot of points in the FIDE circuit when he played in Norway. He was very quick with his response when we invited him this year.
On equal pay for women's event
It's important for Norway Chess and chess itself. We want more women to play chess and more girls to play chess. There are a lot of good players in the women's tournament and they need to earn more money because then it's easier to make a living out of chess like many men who are able to make a living out of chess. That's good for the sport. Also, in Norway, equal prize money and salary are very important and we want to follow that example.
When: The annual event will be held at Stavanger from May 26 to June 6.