Norway Chess Women returns to Oslo for its fourth edition, running concurrently with the open Norway Chess in Stavanger. The same Armageddon-after-classical-draw format that defines the open event — every drawn classical game is decided by an immediate Armageddon decider — applies in identical form. Six players, double round-robin (10 games each), a tournament long enough to produce a clear winner but short enough that every round matters.
Format
Classical games at 120 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest, no increment until move 41. Drawn classicals are immediately followed by an Armageddon: White gets 10 minutes, Black gets 7 minutes, draw odds to Black. Classical wins earn 3 points; Armageddon wins after a classical draw earn 1.5; the Armageddon loser still earns 1 point. The system pushes both sides to play for the win in the slow game while keeping a draw from being valueless.
The 4th edition
The Oslo venue (Clarion Hotel Energy) hosts the women’s section in parallel with the open’s Finansparken venue in Stavanger. The 2026 field, announced in late March, includes Hou Yifan and several Women’s Candidates finalists. Live coverage runs in parallel with the open event on the official Norway Chess platform and via chess-results.com. The 2025 women’s champion Vaishali Rameshbabu is not in the 2026 field.