41 Years After His First Title in Norway Simen Agdestein Wins Again

GM Simen Agdestein won his first Norwegian Championship as a 15-year-old in 1982. 41 years later, the veteran clinched his ninth title and extended his record as the oldest champion of all time.

The 56-year-old emerged victorious in Oslo on Saturday as the sole player to finish on 6.5/9. He finished half a point ahead of the trio of GM Evgeny Romanov, IM Elham Abdrlauf, and GM Aryan Tari. Second seed GM Jon Ludvig Hammer had a disappointing result and finished eighth.

Agdestein's triumph is a remarkable achievement, as he holds the record as the youngest and oldest champion in Norway, improving on his record from last year. His first title came 41 years ago when he became the youngest-ever champion as a 15-year-old in 1982. Then he won again in 1988, 1989, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2022, and with his ninth title in 2023, he has more titles than any other player in Norway.

Standings

GM Magnus Carlsen, who stopped playing these events after winning his first in 2006, and Norway's number-four GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen were missing this year, but the event was still pretty strong with number-two GM Aryan Tari, and number-three, GM Jon Ludvig Hammer both competing. The event was a nine-round Swiss and included eight GMs and 8 IMs among the 22 players.

GM Evgeny Romanov, who became the first Russian grandmaster to change federations after the invasion of Ukraine, took part in his first Norwegian Championship since his transfer. The 34-year-old FIDE Senior Trainer (FST) has been a frequent guest in Norway as a player in team and open events and has also coached a number of the top Norwegian juniors. He now resides in Turkey in between coaching work in Germany and Norway.

Romanov was only a win away from taking the title in the final round against Valerenga teammate IM Kristian Stuvik Holm, but the game ended in a well-fought draw.

Norway's biggest prospect these days is 18-year-old IM Elham Abdrlauf, who secured his first GM norm and is already well above 2500. The youngster with Afghan roots had a one-point lead after round seven but lost against Romanov in round eight and was in serious trouble against Tari in the final round, a game he managed to save to a draw.

Another noteworthy performance came from 14-year-old FM Aksel Bu Kvaloy, who finished in an impressive fifth place in the tournament scoring his fourth IM norm. The Stavanger teenager, who is the youngest ever Norwegian U11 champion (at seven years old) and the youngest ever Norwegian to beat a titled player in a classical game (at eight years old), is rapidly approaching 2500, a feat that he should achieve when FIDE publishes their next rating list.

Agdestein opened with 4/5 but then had a setback when losing against IM Benjamin Haldorsen in round six. Two wins in the final rounds proved to be enough to clinch the title. His win against GM Lars Oskar Hauge in round eight was brutal.

While Carlsen has taken over the headlines in Norway, Agdestein was an A-list celebrity in the 80s and 90s as he shot up to fame as one of the strongest players in the world.

After becoming the world's youngest grandmaster at 18 in 1985, he was able to combine a career as a professional chess player competing in super-tournaments with GMs Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Boris Gelfand, and Vasyl Ivanchuk with a career as a soccer player at the highest level for Lyn in the top division, and earning himself eight caps and one goal for Norway's national team.

A knee injury led to the end of his soccer-playing career and also heavily affected his chess career. While not competing as much as during his peak, he shows up at open events around Europe from time to time when traveling with his chess students at the Norwegian High School for Top Athletes (NTG), where his former pupils include Carlsen, Hammer, and Tari.

This year marks Agdestein's 25th year anniversary as the head coach for the school.

The Norwegian Championship took place in Oslo between June 30 and July 8 and had a record participation of 687 players in 15 different categories—from seniors to U8. The first prize in the Elite group was NOK 100,000, around 9,500 USD.