So Wins Norway Blitz; Nakamura, Anand, Carlsen, and Mamedyarov also Win an Extra White

Norway Chess held its customary pre-tournament blitz event to determine the pairings, and while there were motivations to win (money, blitz rating points, bragging rights) the main goal was to finish in the top five. That guarantees the player an extra game with the white pieces, and to that end Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were all winners, though So finished in clear first. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana were tied with Mamedyarov on points, but finished 6th and 7th, respectively, on tiebreak. Sergey Karjakin, Levon Aronian, and Ding Liren rounded out the field.

You can find the games and replay Chess24's live coverage here if you're a premium member. (You need to a member to watch the coverage, not to replay the games, which can be accessed on the tournament site or on TWIC, and probably plenty of other places too.) The full pairings for the main event are here, and this is what we've got coming in round 1, tomorrow:

• Nakamura (2769) - Ding Liren (2791)
• Anand (2760) - Aronian (2764)
• So (2778) - Karjakin (2782)
• Carlsen (2843) - Caruana (2822)
• Mamedyarov (2808) - Vachier-Lagrave (2789)

If you want to make predictions, make them now, before the Carlsen-Caruana game takes place. As for me, I'll take refuge in a Danish quotation, expressing a joke probably best known from a later, similar version spoken by Yogi Berra: It is difficult to make predicitons, especially about the future.