Norway Chess has crowned a champion every year since 2013, and the honour roll reads like a top-ten list of the modern game — from Sergey Karjakin at the very first edition to R Praggnanandhaa in 2026. Below is the complete year-by-year list of open champions, the newer women’s winners, and the records that stand out — including one Norwegian who has made the event his personal fortress. (Reigning champions as of July 2026: Praggnanandhaa in the open, Bibisara Assaubayeva in the women’s.)
Norway Chess: full list of open champions
| Year | Champion | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Sergey Karjakin | Russia |
| 2014 | Sergey Karjakin | Russia |
| 2015 | Veselin Topalov | Bulgaria |
| 2016 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2017 | Levon Aronian | Armenia |
| 2018 | Fabiano Caruana | USA |
| 2019 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2020 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2021 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2022 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2023 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA |
| 2024 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2025 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway |
| 2026 | R Praggnanandhaa | India |
Norway Chess Women: full list of champions
The women’s event, Norway Chess Women, launched in 2024, runs alongside the open tournament, and uses the same Armageddon scoring and an equal prize fund.
| Year | Champion | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Ju Wenjun | China |
| 2025 | Anna Muzychuk | Ukraine |
| 2026 | Bibisara Assaubayeva | Kazakhstan |
Records & milestones
- Most open titles: Magnus Carlsen — a commanding 7 (2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025), every single one of them won on home soil in Norway. No one else is close.
- Most in a row: Carlsen again, with four straight from 2019 to 2022 — the run that coincided with the tournament’s new Armageddon format.
- First-ever champion: Sergey Karjakin, who won the inaugural 2013 edition and defended it in 2014 — the only back-to-back winner besides Carlsen.
- First women’s champion: Ju Wenjun, who took the inaugural Norway Chess Women title in 2024.
- Newest name on the trophy: R Praggnanandhaa, the 2026 open champion, in the first edition held in Oslo.
- A truly global roll of honour: across its editions the open title has travelled to Russia, Bulgaria, Norway, Armenia, the United States and India — proof of just how deep and international the invited fields have been.
Why Carlsen owns this list
Scan the table and one thing jumps out: Magnus Carlsen is on it seven times, and every win came in his own country. Home-crowd events can go either way for a favourite — the pressure is enormous — but Carlsen turned Norway Chess into a personal stronghold, especially during the 2019–2022 stretch when the new Armageddon format arrived and he simply refused to lose the important games. His only real stumble came in 2023, when the field caught up with him. That mix of dominance and the occasional dramatic upset is exactly what keeps the winners list interesting: a home hero to root for, and a rotating cast of world-beaters trying to gatecrash the party.
A few notable results
2013 — the debut. Karjakin edged a field featuring seven of the world’s top ten. Home favourite Carlsen, then the new World Champion, could only tie for second — he wouldn’t win his own event until 2016.
2016 — Carlsen breaks through at home. After three years of near-misses, the World Champion finally lifted his own trophy in front of a Norwegian crowd — the first of what would become a record haul.
2019 — the format that fit him. The debut of the Armageddon-after-every-draw scoring produced chaos (five Armageddon games in round one alone), and Carlsen thrived in it, kicking off four straight titles.
2023 — Nakamura on the last day. Hikaru Nakamura claimed his first Norway Chess title by winning on demand against tournament leader Fabiano Caruana in the final round. Carlsen, the five-time defending-era champion, finished sixth without a single classical win — a rare off-week for the local hero.
2025 — Carlsen’s seventh, by a whisker. Magnus won a tense final round that also decided things elsewhere: he finished on 16 points, just ahead of Fabiano Caruana (15½) and Gukesh Dommaraju (14½). In the women’s event, Anna Muzychuk went undefeated in the classical games to take the title.
2026 — Pragg’s great escape. Praggnanandhaa sat in last place after round six, then rattled off a run of classical wins to finish clear first on 18 points, ahead of Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja. Bibisara Assaubayeva wrapped up the women’s title with a round to spare.
Frequently asked questions
Who has won Norway Chess the most times? Magnus Carlsen, with 7 open titles — all won in Norway.
Who won the first Norway Chess? Sergey Karjakin, at the inaugural 2013 edition in Stavanger.
Who is the current Norway Chess champion? R Praggnanandhaa in the open and Bibisara Assaubayeva in the women’s event, both from 2026 (as of July 2026).
When did the women’s Norway Chess start? In 2024, when Ju Wenjun became the first champion.
How many editions of Norway Chess have there been? Fourteen open editions from 2013 to 2026, plus three editions of Norway Chess Women (2024–2026).
Explore more
Learn how the Armageddon scoring works on the Norway Chess hub · Browse the full events hub and the Tata Steel Masters · Read profiles of Magnus Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa and Hikaru Nakamura.
Researched and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Verified against Norway Chess, FIDE, Wikipedia and Chess.com · Champions and records current as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-11 · How we verify content.