GM Simen Agdestein received his first Norwegian Championship as a 15-year-old in 1982. 41 years later, the veteran clinched his ninth title and prolonged his document because the oldest champion of all time.

The 56-year-old emerged victorious in Oslo on Saturday as the only participant to complete on 6.5/9. He completed half some extent forward of the trio of GM Evgeny Romanov, IM Elham Abdrlauf, and GM Aryan Tari. Second seed GM Jon Ludvig Hammer had a disappointing outcome and completed eighth.

Agdestein’s triumph is a outstanding achievement, as he holds the document because the youngest and oldest champion in Norway, enhancing on his document from final yr. His first title got here 41 years in the past when he grew to become the youngest-ever champion as a 15-year-old in 1982. Then he received once more in 1988, 1989, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2022, and together with his ninth title in 2023, he has extra titles than some other participant in Norway.

Standings

GM Magnus Carlsen, who stopped taking part in these occasions after successful his first in 2006, and Norway’s number-four GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen have been lacking this yr, however the occasion was nonetheless fairly sturdy with number-two GM Aryan Tari, and number-three, GM Jon Ludvig Hammer each competing. The occasion was a nine-round Swiss and included eight GMs and eight IMs among the many 22 gamers.

GM Evgeny Romanov, who grew to become the primary Russian grandmaster to change federations after the invasion of Ukraine, took half in his first Norwegian Championship since his switch. The 34-year-old FIDE Senior Coach (FST) has been a frequent visitor in Norway as a participant in workforce and open occasions and has additionally coached a lot of the highest Norwegian juniors. He now resides in Turkey in between teaching work in Germany and Norway.

Romanov was solely a win away from taking the title within the closing spherical in opposition to Valerenga teammate IM Kristian Stuvik Holm, however the sport resulted in a well-fought draw.

Norway’s largest prospect lately is 18-year-old IM Elham Abdrlauf, who secured his first GM norm and is already properly above 2500. The teen with Afghan roots had a one-point lead after spherical seven however misplaced in opposition to Romanov in spherical eight and was in deep trouble in opposition to Tari within the closing spherical, a sport he managed to save lots of to a draw.

One other noteworthy efficiency got here from 14-year-old FM Aksel Bu Kvaloy, who completed in a powerful fifth place within the match scoring his fourth IM norm. The Stavanger teenager, who’s the youngest ever Norwegian U11 champion (at seven years previous) and the youngest ever Norwegian to beat a titled participant in a classical sport (at eight years previous), is quickly approaching 2500, a feat that he ought to obtain when FIDE publishes their subsequent ranking listing.

Agdestein opened with 4/5 however then had a setback when shedding in opposition to IM Benjamin Haldorsen in spherical six. Two wins within the closing rounds proved to be sufficient to clinch the title. His win in opposition to GM Lars Oskar Hauge in spherical eight was brutal.

Whereas Carlsen has taken over the headlines in Norway, Agdestein was an A-list superstar within the 80s and 90s as he shot as much as fame as one of many strongest gamers on the earth.

After turning into the world’s youngest grandmaster at 18 in 1985, he was in a position to mix a profession as knowledgeable chess participant competing in super-tournaments with GMs Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Boris Gelfand, and Vasyl Ivanchuk with a profession as a soccer participant on the highest degree for Lyn within the high division, and incomes himself eight caps and one objective for Norway’s nationwide workforce.

A knee harm led to the tip of his soccer-playing profession and in addition closely affected his chess profession. Whereas not competing as a lot as throughout his peak, he reveals up at open occasions round Europe every so often when touring together with his chess college students on the Norwegian Excessive Faculty for Prime Athletes (NTG), the place his former pupils embody Carlsen, Hammer, and Tari.

This yr marks Agdestein’s twenty fifth yr anniversary as the top coach for the college.

The Norwegian Championship befell in Oslo between June 30 and July 8 and had a document participation of 684 gamers in 15 completely different classes—from seniors to U8. The primary prize within the Elite group was NOK 100,000, round 9,500 USD.