Congratulations to the winners!

After 10 rounds of the GM-group three players finished at the top of the table with 7.5 points.
GM Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan had the best rating performance and took first place. GM Tiger Hillarp from Sweden was second and GM G B Harshavardhan from India was third. The prize money was shared equally between these three.

Jumabayev, Hillarp and  Harshavardhan 
(Photo Anniken Vestby)

The Open group was won by the firm favorite, IM Sharan Rao from India, who managed to win all his 10 games! Stanislav Hohelj of Ukraine was second with 7.5 points, while Norwegian Martin K Andersen took third place with 7 points.

Hohelj, Rao and Andersen
(Photo: Henrik Sjøl)

Possible title norms before round 10

It is possible to make title norms after 9 or 10 rounds.

IA IO Hans Olav Lahlum has prepared this list of title norm candidates before round 10:

IM Christian Gloeckler (GER):	Has made a 9-round GM-norm. Needs a draw with black in round 10 to extend the norm to 10-rounds.
FM Keyvan Farokhi (GER):	Will make an IM-norm if winning with white in round 10.
FM Sarbartho Mani (IND):	Will make an IM-norm if winning with white in round 10.

Possible title norms before round 9

It is possible to make title norms after 9 or 10 rounds.

IA IO Hans Olav Lahlum has prepared this list of title norm candidates before round 9:

IM Christian Gloeckler (GER):	Has made a 9-round GM-norm even if losing round 9. Needs ½ out of 2 to make a 10-round GM-norm. The opponent in round 10 must be rated at least 2410.
FM Jacob Templen Grave (NOR):	Will take an IM-norm if winning round 9. May also take an IM-norm if drawing round 9 and winning round 10 if the opponent in round 10 is rated at least 2312.
FM Keyvan Farokhi (GER):	Will take an IM-norm if winning round 9. May also take an IM-norm if drawing round 9 and winning round 10 if the opponent in round 10 is rated at least 2343.
FM Aituar Zhukenov (KAZ):	Needs 2 out of 2 to make a IM-norm, and the opponent in round 10 must be rated at least 2219.
FM Sarbartho Mani (IND):	Needs 2 out of 2 to make a IM-norm, and the opponent in round 10 must be rated at least 2308.
CM Snehal Bhosale (IND):	Needs 2 out of 2 to make a IM-norm, and the opponent in round 10 must be rated at least 2358.
WIM Sachi Jain (IND):	Needs 2 out of 2 to make a WGM-norm, and the opponent in round 10 must be rated at least 2276.

Fagernes Autumn Blitz

Fagernes Autumn Blitz, our second blitz tournament, was played Friday 9th October 2026, after round 8 of the main tournament. There were 34 players taking part.

IM Christian Gloeckler of Germany had a slow start with 2½ points from 4 games. After this however, the 14-year-old was unstoppable, winning his last 5 games. 7½ points was more than enough to take clear first place.

IM Moksh Doshi of India was second with 6½ points, followed by GM Elham Amar (Norway), GM Arjun Kalyan (India), FM Sarbartho Mani (India), GM Aksel Bu Kvaløy (Norway) and FM Jacob Templen Grave (Norway) with 6 points.

Gloeckler and Doshi
(Photo: Anniken Vestby)

Possible title norms before round 8

It is possible to make title norms after 9 or 10 rounds.

IA IO Hans Olav Lahlum has prepared this list of title norm candidates before round 8:

IM Christian Gloeckler (GER):	Needs ½ out of 2 to make a GM-norm. The opponent in round 9 must be rated at least 2327.
GM Semen Mitusov (NOR):	Needs 2 out of 2 to make a GM-norm.
IM Apaar Saxena (IND):	Needs 2 out of 2 to make a GM-norm, and the opponent in round 9 must be rated at least 2467.
FM Jacob Templen Grave (NOR):	Probably needs 1½ out of 2 for an IM-norm, and the opponent in round 9 must be rated at least 2302.
FM Keyvan Farokhi (GER):	Will make an IM-norm with 2 out of 2. 1½ points will be enough if the opponent in round 9 is rated at least 2384.
WIM Sachi Jain (IND):	Needs 1 or 1½ out of 2 for a WGM-norm. 1 is enough if the opponent in round 9 is rated at least 2406. Needs 1½ or 2 out of 2 for an IM-norm. 1½ is enough if the opponent in round 9 is rated at least 2473.
FM Sarbartho Mani (IND):	Needs 2 out of 2 to make a IM-norm, and the opponent in round 9 must be rated at least 2308.
CM Snehal Bhosale (IND):	Needs 2 out of 2 to make an IM-norm.

Fagernes Autumn Slow Blitz

Fagernes Autumn Slow Blitz was played Thursday 8th October 2026, after round 7 of the main tournament. 29 players joined to play 7 rounds of slow blitz chess (5+3). 

The winner was IM Christian Gloeckler of Germany, making 6½ points out of 7. There was a large margin down to FM Sarbartho Mani (India), GM Aksel Bu Kvaløy (Norway) and FM Siddhanth Poonja (India), who all had 5 points and fnished as number 2, 3 and 4 respectively.

Kvaløy, Mani and Gloeckler  
(Photo: Anniken Vestby)

Fagernes Teamtalkingchess

The Fagernes teamtalkingchess tournament was played Wednesday 7th October 2026 after round 6 in the main tournament. We had 11 teams with a total of 35 players. Winners were the Indian team Thalapathy, who won all their four matches and collected 8 team points.

The winning team Thalapathy
(Photo: Anniken Vestby)

The teams 3 kjekke gutter, Lav eliksir kostnad and En god koncept all had 6 team points on places 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The full standings may be found here.

1) Thalapathy                    8   16,5
   GM G.B. Harshavardhan
   GM Arjun Kalyan
   IM Senthil Maran
   CM Neeraj Harish
   
2) 3 kjekke gutter               6   17,0
   GM Aksel Bu Kvaløy
   FM Evsuld Myagmarsuren
   FM Martin Holten Fiskaaen
   CM David Simonsen

3) Lav eliksir kostnad           6   16,0
   FM William Olsen
   FM Charvi A
   CM Daniel Arvola

Fagernes International Autumn starts today

Fagernes International Autumn starts today, Saturday 3rd October 2026.

At the time of writing we have 99 participants.

The first round will be at 17.00 CET. The pairings can be found on our parings page some time after registration ends at 15.30 CET.

All games from both groups will be sent live with a 15-minute delay.

Thank you!

The tournament starts in two days, and we would like to thank the following for their support: 

• Scandic Valdres
• Arnold J. Eikrems minnefond
• The office of The Norwegian Chess Federation
• The Senior Commision of The Norwegian Chess Federation

Two months to go!

Two months before the start date we have 64 participants, and expect to reach 100. At least ten of these will probably be rated above 2500.

The reigning Norwegian champion GM Elham Amar (NOR 2587) is top-ranked ahead of GM Frode Urkedal (NOR 2571) and GM Abhijeet Gupta (IND 2553).

Message from the Organizer

As our autumn tournament in 2025 had fewer participants and a bigger deficit than expected, we have been much in doubt about whether to make a second Fagernes tournament for 2026.

Keeping aside only the top group of the Norwegian Championships, it seems that we are for 2026 the only Norwegian organizer of title-qualifying Swiss tournaments. This of course is a highly unfortunate situation for Norwegian chess life, all the more as the required norm from a Swiss tournament nowadays is the main hurdle for many title candidates.

We were happy to get many requests about the autumn during the recent Easter tournament at Fagernes, and fortunately it turns out that a tournament in the first half of October 2026 will overlap way fewer important tournaments compared to the rather extreme situation from last year. Due to cancelled flights and a very troublesome international situation many players were unable to come as planned for our Easter tournament, and some of them are eager instead to visit Norway and Fagernes this autumn.

Following this we have decided to accept the challenge for one more autumn, and organize another GM-group and Open Group at Fagernes for October 2026! Compared to last year we will increase the top prizes plus the spending for GM-invitations somewhat. We hope following this that the GM group will be back at top level, including 11-12 GMs and 8-10 players rated above 2500, with a median ELO close to 2300. Title norm chances anyway will be even better for this tournament as we now will go for 10 rounds in 9 days, with round 1 starting late afternoon of Saturday October 3 and round 10 morning of Sunday October 11.

For title norm candidates, this solution is very attractive since players with 10 games can score a title norm for round 1-9 OR 1-10 (and in some situations even for round 2-10). With 10 rounds it will also be possible to score a title norm if a player for some reason or another cannot play one of the games. Players with a preference for 9 games now can choose either a walk-over draw for round 1 with arrival October 4, or a walk-over draw for round 4 (or 5) with only single rounds. Our new concept will be flexible also for club players, as each participant can request a walk-over draw for one or two games within round 1-8.

We are excited to test out the new concept with 10 rounds in 9 days, and hope of course to see many old as well as new chessfriends among the participants. The GM Group and the Open are now open for registrations. GM, IM and WGM players asking for conditions/discounts are welcome to contact the chief organizer directly by email hansolahlum@gmail.com.

Welcome to Fagernes International Autumn 2026!

The tournament is played at the major Norwegian Chess Hotel Scandic Valdres at Fagernes, 187 km north of Oslo.

Main organizer is Hans Olav Lahlum in cooperation with Sotra Sjakklubb.

Hans Olav Lahlum

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Hans Olav Lahlum (born 1973) is a well known Norwegian chess player, chess organizer and chess TV commentator, having the titles of International Organizer (IO) and International Arbiter (IA) from the World Chess Federation FIDE. 

Lahlum organized numerous international tournaments at Gausdal 1999-2008, Oslo 2011-2014 and Fagernes 2014-2026. 

He has also been chief arbiter in many other large tournaments including the Norwegian championships 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019.