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.
