Norwegian Chess Championship

Past events and champions

This table summarizes all past championship events. The tournament was not held in 1928 and 1939 due to the Nordic Championships being held in Oslo those years, nor was there any event between 1940 and 1944, when Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany. The 2020 tournament was scheduled to be in Stjørdal but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of participants is the number of players in the entire Landsturnering, not just the championship section. The champions are listed along with the club they represented when they won the championship. Titles decided by play-off matches due to equal scores in the main tournament are noted.

Rules for participation and other classes

The rules for participation are governed by the Norwegian Chess Federation (NSF).

The championship ("Elite") section is restricted to the top-rated players. In order to play for the most prestigious title of national chess champion, a player must meet at least one of the following criteria :

• Won the Norwegian Championship in one of the three preceding years.
• Finished third or better in last year's championship.
• Won the national championship in the Junior section the previous year.
• Finished first or second in the Candidate Elite section (the second highest section, immediately below Elite) the previous year.
• Have a sufficiently high Elo rating (as of 2025 the lower limit is 2400).
• Been deemed otherwise eligible for participation by the Elite Committee of the Norwegian Chess Federation. In general, an even number of participants is sought in the championship section to prevent byes from occurring.

However, the Landsturnering has several sections for lower-rated players, as well as sections for different age groups. In general, players must be members of the Norwegian Chess Federation, or a club affiliated with the federation, although exceptions may be made if the person is a member of another national chess federation. To be eligible for a championship title, a player must either be a Norwegian citizen or have been a resident of Norway for the past year.

The current regulations provide for the following sections below the Elite section :

• Candidate Elite (rating 2200 - 2399)
• Master (rating 2000 - 2199)
• Class 1 (rating 1800 - 1999)
• Class 2 (rating 1600 - 1799)
• Class 3 (rating under 1600)
• Senior 50 (over 50)
• Senior 65 (over 65)
• Senior B (over 50, rating under 1600)
• Junior A (age under 20)
• Junior B (age under 20, rating under 1800)
• Cadet A (age under 16)
• Cadet B (age under 16, rating under 1800)
• Lilleputt (age under 13)
• Miniputt (age under 11) The Senior, Junior and Cadet categories are split into an "A" and "B" group by rating, but are combined if either of the groups has fewer than 10 participants. Qualification for the classes with a lower age limit ("Senior") require that the player reach that age before 31 December of that year, while the classes with an upper age limit require that the player be under the age limit on 1 January of that year.

A player cannot be required to play in a higher class than what the last rating list indicates; however, a player may elect to play up if a sufficiently high rating was obtained on any of the monthly official rating lists during the year. In addition, players may elect to play in a higher section if they scored at least 60% in that same class the previous year, if they were in the top 7% of the class below the previous year, or if they won the Norwegian Grand Prix tournament series for the rating class below in the previous year. In addition, winners of the individual circuit championships and the champion of Northern Norway are automatically qualified for play in the Master class, regardless of rating. The top two finishers of the Candidate Elite class qualify for next year's Elite section.

Arrangement

Since 1997, the championship section has had approximately 20 players. If there are at least 16 players, it is arranged as a nine-round Monrad tournament, a system similar to the Swiss system tournament. The official Norwegian Chess Federation policies also allow the tournament to be arranged as a round-robin with 10 or 12 players. From 2013 the regular Swiss system has been used in the Championship section, and is an alternative to the Monrad in the other sections.

If two or more players are tied for points at the end of the tournament, the tiebreak rules depend on the system used. In 2007, when the tournament was arranged as a Monrad, a modified Buchholz system was used, where the first tiebreak is the sum of a player's opponents' scores, except the two weakest. If still tied, the second weakest and then the weakest scores were added to the tiebreak points. If still tied, the Neustadtl score, that is the sum of defeated opponents' scores plus half of drawn opponents' scores, were used. In 2015, when the Swiss System was used in all sections, the tiebreaks, in order, were median Buchholz (strongest and weakest opponents discounted), Buchholz -1 (weakest opponent discounted), regular Buchholz, and finally the average rating of opponents.

Prior to 2014 the Championship, Junior, Cadet and Senior sections, a tied score resulted in a play-off for the title within 60 days after the end of the main tournament. The rules of the play-off changed several times. A rule change in 2013 abolished the play-off entirely effective from the 2014 tournament.

Notes

References

References

1. "Landsturneringen 2020 avlyst – NSFs kongress og USFs årsmøte vil bli avholdt på nett". Norwegian chess federation.
2. The list of champions up to and including 2002 is available at the website for the 2003 event in Fredrikstad [http://www.sjakk.net/tidligere-vinnere.html], the table for the 2003 event itself is [http://www.sjakk.net/Nm003e.htm here]. See footnotes for information on later champions. The city and number of participants up to and including 2008 are obtained from the Norwegian Chess Federation archives ([http://sjakk.no/fra_arkivet/Antall%20deltakere%20i%20landsturneringen.pdf full list]), for the 2009 event see [http://turneringsservice.sjakklubb.no/enrolled.aspx?TID=LandsturneringenNMiSjakk2009-HordalandSjakkrets the list of participants] with 515 entries, although one player is included twice, and another (''Ingen Spiller'', or "No player") is a placeholder.
3. [http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/sport/article274721.ece NM-gullet røk for Magnus] (Norwegian Championship gold slipped for Magnus), ''Nettavisen'', 5 September 2004 {{in lang. no
4. [http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/sjakk/article489452.ece Deilig å vinne] (Great to win) ''Nettavisen'', 11 September 2005 {{in lang. no
5. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071009145855/http://www.nm2006.sjakknet.no/spillested.php Official page for the 2006 championship] (Web Archive)
6. [http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/sjakk/article745143.ece Magnus knuste Simen] (Magnus crushed Simen), ''Nettavisen'', 21 September 2006 {{in lang. no
7. [http://www.nm2007.hedmarksjakk.net/Spillested.htm Venue information from the official page for the 2007 championship]
8. [http://www.nettavisen.no/sjakk/article1349278.ece Ny norgesmester i sjakk] ("New Norwegian chess champion") Nettavisen, 23 September 2007. {{in lang. no
9. [http://home.no.net/tonsjakk/Landsturneringe%20%20i%20%202008.htm Tønsberg Chess Club's current page for the 2008 championship] {{in lang. no
10. [http://www.nettavisen.no/sjakk/article2251501.ece 35-åring vant sitt første sjakk-NM] Nettavisen {{in lang. no
11. [http://sjakknm2009.no/nettsted/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:haukelandshallen&catid=31:om-arrangementet&Itemid=69 Venue information] 2009 event website
12. (12 July 2009). "Endelig ble han norgesmester". Nettavisen.
13. "Sjakk NM 2010". Fredriksstad Schakselskap.
14. Valaker, Ole. (17 October 2010). "Han er norgesmester – igjen". Nettavisen.
15. Event awarded to SK 1911 of Oslo in the 2009 congress. See [http://www.sjakk.no/nsf/kongressen/referat/88.pdf minutes], pt. 9 {{in lang. no
16. (4 July 2010). "Rolig kongress i Norges Sjakkforbund". Sjakkhuset.
17. (11 December 2011). "Han er tidenes NM-konge". Nettavisen.
18. Valaker, Ole. (21 October 2012). "Tenåring vant kongepokalen i sjakk". Nettavisen.
19. "Landsturneringen NM i sjakk 2013". Turneringsservice.
20. "Landsturneringen NM i sjakk 2013". Tournamentservice.
21. "LANDSTURNERINGEN 2015". Nordstrand sjakklubb.
22. (11 July 2015). "Landsturneringen 2015". Tournamentservice.
23. "LANDSTURNERINGEN DE NESTE FIRE ÅR". Eidsvoll sjakklubb.
24. Nilsen, Sven Wisløff. (16 July 2016). "IM Johan Salomon er Norgesmester 2016!". Sjakk NM 2016.
25. Bergh, Nicolas. (8 July 2017). "Jon Ludvig Hammer vant NM etter nervepirrende avslutning: – Jeg havnet i kjempetrøbbel". Aftenposten.
26. Langsæter, Erik. (4 May 2016). "Moss med sjakk-NM i Sarpsborg". Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad.
27. "Larvik arrangerer landsturneringen 2019". Norwegian chess federation.
28. [https://www.sjakk.no/2021/06/19/sjakk-nm-2021/ Norgesmesterskapet i sjakk 2021 – Eliteklassen]
29. [http://tournamentservice.com/standings.aspx?TID=Eliteklassen2021-NorgesSjakkforbund Results Norgesmesterskapet i sjakk 2021 – Eliteklassen] Turneringsservice
30. [https://bergensjakk.no/2019/07/07/kindred-avtalen-falt-pa-nsfs-kongress/ Kindred-avtalen falt på NSFs kongress]
31. [https://bergensjakk.no/2023/07/04/litt-fra-nsfs-kongress-2023/ Litt fra NSFs kongress 2023]
32. [https://bergensjakk.no/2025/07/07/litt-fra-sjakkforbundets-kongress-2025/ Litt fra NSFs kongress 2025]
33. [http://www.sjakk.no/nsf/lover_og_reglementer/regler_landsturnering_index.html Landsturneringen] Official policy page of [[Norges Sjakkforbund]] (Norwegian Chess Federation) for the ''Landsturnering'' {{in lang. no
34. . ["2.0.2.B Landsturneringen"](https://www.sjakk.no/forbund/lover-og-reglementer/landsturneringen). *Norges sjakkforbund (Norwegian chess federation)*.
35. "2.0.2.A Turneringsreglement for NSF - alminnelig del". Norges sjakkforbund (Norwegian chess federation).
36. ''Norsk Sjakkblad'', issues no.5 1997, no.5 1998, no.5 1999, no.4 2000, no.4 2001, no.4 2002, no.4 2003, [http://www.sjakk.no/nsf/norsk_sjakkblad/nr4_04.pdf no.4 2004], [http://www.sjakk.no/nsf/norsk_sjakkblad/nr4_05.pdf no.4 2005], [http://www.sjakk.no/nsf/norsk_sjakkblad/nr4_06.pdf no.4 2006] {{Webarchive. link. (27 September 2007 .)
37. "Oppsummering NSFs kongress". Caissa sjakklubb.
38. [http://www.sjakk.no/nsf/monradsystem_index.html Norwegian Chess Federation regulations for the Monrad system] {{webarchive. link. (6 July 2007 NSF's website {{in lang). no
39. "Innbydelse". Landsturneringen 2015.
40. (1 July 2013). "Fokus på forbundets 100årsjubileum – og stikkampen om NM fjernes". Bulletin 2 from Landsturneringen 2013 at Lillehammer.