CHESS STARS TURN COWBOYS FOR A DAY AT NORWAY CHESS GAMES 2025

Stavanger (Norway), May 31, 2025: In a dramatic turn from the chess board to the Wild West, the best chess players in the world exchanged pawns for guns, sieves and the lassos in this year’s edition of Norway Chess Games.

Held on a day of rest of the tournament, the tradition of cheerful competition continued unforgettably with the “Chess Cowboy Challenge”, a confrontation of high spirit in Westernben, a village of Western theme in Ålgåd, only outside.

This year’s participants were the alignment of the Norway Chess star and Norway Chess Women. Unfortunately, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh could not join, and intervene was Carlsen, Magnus’s wife, demonstrating to be a trustee in more than one sense.

Adopting their new western characters, the players adopted the theme of all my heart:

Magnus “The Lone Goat” Carlsen
Caruana “The Sicilian sniper”
Hikaru “The Blitz Bandit” Nakamura
Arjun “No Slip” Erigaisi
Wei “The Quiet Storm” Yi
Gukesh “The Chennai Sharpshoter” D

VAISHALI “The Rising Rider” Rameshbabu
Anna “Ice veins” Muzychuk
Humpy “The Hammer” Koneru
Lei “The Lockdown” Tingjie
Ju “Non-feded” Wenjun
She Carlsen (intervening as an honorary cowgirl)

With nicknames as fierce as their plaque styles, the competitors were more than ready to face the cowboy gauntlete ahead.

Crowboy Challenge’s Chess touched them through a series of wild tasks. They faced the Sheriff’s memory test in a prison escape, sought lighting by solving the priest’s riddle in the chapel, extracted by gold and tried his hand in the axes throwing next to the church. Air rifles, Lasso launches, cowboy questionnaires in the house of pleasure and classic horseshoe throws joined the taste of the day, with real horses wandering around the scene for that authentic atmosphere.

Each team, composed of a male player and a woman, competed in all stations while they made their way through the village.

Final classification:

1st place: Magnus and she Carlsen – Coronado Chess sheriff

2nd place: Hikaru Nakamura and Anna Muzychuk

3rd place: Fabiano Caruana and Vaishali Rameshbabu

4th place: Gukesh D and Ju Wenjun

5th place: Wei Yi and Lei Tingjie

6th place: Arjun Erigaisi & Humpy Koneru

About Norway’s chess games

Norway Chess Games is an annual tradition that maintains the day duration of the tournament. It gives the best players in the world a rest of intense competition and the opportunity to connect in a creative and unexpected way. The previous editions have included:

• Chess chefs– A culinary battle where players cook for the best chefs
• Cake decoration challenge– Full of glaze, sparks and strategy
• Farmer for a day-Caying hand -leaf cows and driving tractors
• Design your own point sweater-Where the players designed posterior patterns with real sweaters as unique memories

About Norway’s chess

Norway’s chess is one of the main chess tournaments in the world, which brings together the best male and female players in a distinctive format of 6 double round-robin players. The introduction of Norwegian chess women in 2024, with funds of the same award for men and women, underlines the commitment of the event to gender equality and innovation in sports. Norway Chess 2025 will take place from May 26 to June 6. Norway Summit, an annual multidisciplinary conference on new technologies, innovation and the economy, takes place together with the chess of Norway every year and is scheduled for June 4 in 2025.