The 8th and penultimate round of the Norway Chess Tournament 2016 led to a major change at the top of the rankings table. World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who was a whole point ahead of his nearest rivals, crucially went down against Levon Aronian. Courtesy of this result, Aronian and Carlsen go into the final round of the tournament as joint leaders.
Aronian’s victory over Carlsen was nothing but emphatic. Almost immediately after the opening, Carlsen went astray with a string of small inaccuracies. While Aronian was already firmly in the driver’s seat, Carlsen made a huge mistake on move 26, helping Aronian round off the matters pretty quickly.
Indian ace Pentala Harikrishna also had a tough day at the office. Hari, playing black, was unable to pose any problems for Kramnik, with the latter going on to win the game in his trademark positional style.
Meanwhile, Li Chao beat Pavel Eljanov en route to his first victory of the tournament.
Results
| Aronian | 1-0 | Carlsen |
| Kramnik | 1-0 | Harikrishna |
| Eljanov | 0-1 | Li Chao |
| Vachier-Lagrave | ½-½ | Topalov |
| Giri | ½-½ | Grandelius |