One week to go!

One week before the clocks start in the first round, the organizers of the Open Norwegian Championships/ Fagernes International are very well satisfied to find a record 147 registered players in our list.

We find it very inspiring that there is so much interest in playing physical tournaments again after a long period with few tournaments. The number of participants and feedback from other interested players is very promising for the upcoming years, and the organizer is considering whether it may be possible with both an Easter holiday tournament and an autumn holiday tournament in 2022.

We strongly regret, but of course understand very well, that a few foreign players have had to withdraw due to continued uncertainty about the possibilities of entering Norway before the tournament. Among these are GM Nihal Sarin and GM Abhijeet Gupta from India, who have withdrawn with the approval of the organizer after a very constructive dialogue. We hope and believe that we will instead meet both for the Fagernes tournaments in 2022 and/or 2023. Titas Stremavicius from Lithuania has meanwhile registered as a new GM in our list of players, and we hope being able to bring in 1-2 more new GMs before the tournament starts.

With 11 GMs, 11 IMs, 1 WGM, 18 FMs and a median rating around 2250 among 75 registered players in the GM group, this year's tournament will in any case offer the participants great chances for title norms. Nearly 20 different countries seem to be represented in the tournament, and this year we are especially happy for a large increase in the number of participants from Sweden and Germany. With changed regulations after the reopening of Norway, we still have room for a few more participants. The registration deadline is therefore extended until Friday 8 October.