Предпоследний тур Norway Chess 2026. Ключевой поединок женщин и самое интересное на турнире мужчин.

This issue of our review is dedicated to the penultimate ninth rounds of the Norway Chess 2026 supertournaments, currently taking place in Oslo, Norway. In the women's competition, Kazakhstan's Bibisara Assaubayeva was the clear leader. But had she lost on Thursday (in regulation time, no less!) to her potential rival, Anna Muzychuk, she would have allowed her opponent to reduce her lead to 2.5 points. This meant that another similar defeat in the final round against champion Ju Wenjun could have deprived the leader of the tournament. In the men's competition, Wesley So's lead seemed far less convincing—especially since he faced the world's strongest player, Magnus Carlsen, on Thursday, who had no significant claim to victory but still had the potential to influence the distribution of first place. Two other potential contenders for the overall victory, Alireza Firouzja and Rameshbabu Pragnanandhaa, played Vincent Keymer and world champion Dommaraju Gukesh, respectively. Both encounters were exceptionally exciting. In this program, honored coach and grandmaster Sergey Makarychev provides a detailed account of all the aforementioned encounters. Photo from the tournament's official website.