Norway chess tournament goes down to the wire

This year's Norway chess tournament was thrown open following Wednesday’s matches that saw Viswanathan Anand narrow overnight leader Veselin Topalov's lead to just half a point. The eighth round of the nine-round event saw three decisive games with Anand beating Jon Ludwig Hammer and Topalov losing to Anish Giri.

Magnus Carlsen (right) scored a win in the eight round of the Norway Chess tournament on Wednesday Reuters

Topalov’s defeat has meant that Anand can win the title if he manages to beat Topalov in the final round on Thursday.

Playing with white pieces, Anand displayed excellent technique to outclass Hammer in 36 moves in an English opening game. The 45-year-old Indian grandmaster’s win has meant that he has remained undefeated in the tournament so far.

Going into Wednesday’s round, Topalov was sitting pretty on top of the standings with one and a half point lead over Anand.

But Giri got the better of the Bulgarian Grandmaster in 56 moves in a Catalan game. With this win, Giri is now tied on third place with Hikaru Nakamura.

World champion Magnus Carlsen had a reason to cheer about as he beat Levon Aronian in a Ruy Lopez game. Carlsen, who has had a forgettable tournament, beat Aronian in 40 moves to score his second win.

With this win Carlsen now stands in place sixth behind Fabiano Caruana. Following his loss to Anand, Hammer finds himself in 10th and last place behind Maxime Vachier Lagrave , Aronian and Alexander Grischuk. The final round takes place on Thursday.