On a dramatic Tuesday in the Champions League, Club Brugge secured a stunning 4-3 victory over Inter Milan, highlighted by Nicolo Tresoldi's hat-trick. Elsewhere, Bayern Munich was held to a 3-3 draw by Viking Stavanger after a late equaliser, while Barcelona recovered from a deficit to defeat Galatasaray 4-1. Atletico Madrid also overcame Manchester United 2-0, and Arsenal secured a 3-0 win against Lille, marking a night of significant results for Europe's top clubs.
Barcelona captain Raphinha scored two goals, leading his side to a resounding 5-1 victory over Feyenoord in their opening Champions League fixture. Meanwhile, Ermedin Demirovic's hat-trick secured a 3-1 win for VfB Stuttgart against Viking Stavanger.
Declan Rice scored a late equaliser for Arsenal in a 2-2 Champions League draw against Bayern Munich on Wednesday. Elsewhere, Real Madrid secured a dominant 4-1 victory over RB Leipzig, largely due to Thibaut Courtois's saves. Manchester United suffered a bruising 4-1 defeat to Como, with Nico Paz starring for the Italian side. Other European matches saw Galatasaray, Inter Milan, Aston Villa, Real Betis, and LASK secure wins.
The UEFA Champions League group stage commenced with thrilling matches as holders Paris St Germain, Arsenal, and Liverpool all secured victories. Ferran Torres netted a hat-trick for PSG in their dominant 6-1 win, while Martin Odegaard's late strike gave Arsenal a 1-0 triumph over Napoli. Liverpool came from behind to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1, and Barcelona also started strong with a 5-1 win against Feyenoord.
World champion D Gukesh is set to compete in the prestigious Norway Chess tournament, facing a strong field including Magnus Carlsen and R Praggnanandhaa. The event, held in Oslo, features top players in both Open and Women's sections, with India having four representatives.
Anemone Kulczak, the chief arbiter at Norway Chess, believes reigning world champion D Gukesh remains the clear favourite to defend his crown later this year.
Norway Chess has consistently innovated to enhance the experience for players and fans, introducing features like the 'confession box' and the Armageddon tie-break to make elite chess more engaging and decisive.
Having never missed his home tournament in the last 13 years, Carlsen had cast doubts over his participation this year after expressing a desire to gradually move away from classical chess. Norway Chess is a classical-format event and Carlsen has won it seven times.
Divya Deshmukh not only became the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women's World Cup, she also instantly secured the prestigious Grandmaster title.
A seething Magnus Carlsen slammed his fist into a table after suffering his first defeat to World champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a classical game.
The youngest-ever world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju will take on Magnus Carlsen, the world's highest-rated player, in a highly-anticipated contest at next year's Norway Chess.
Arjun defeats Gukesh as world champion suffers second successive loss in Norway Chess
Norway Chess released a video of 18-year-old Gukesh with a tonsured head, giving it as an offering to Lord Balaji.
Five-time World champion Magnus Carlsen clinched his seventh Norway Chess title after American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana did a good turn by defeating D Gukesh.
Arjun Erigaisi joined Hikaru Nakamura in the lead at the Norway Chess 2025 after handing compatriot World champion Gukesh Dommaraju a second straight defeat on Tuesday. After two rounds of action-packed games in Stavanger, Erigaisi and Nakamura share the lead with 4.5 points each.
'I always prefer to just play a single tournament and go back home, spend time with my family and have a one-month break and then take part in another one.'
The stars competing at the Norway Chess event were in for an authentic Wild West surprise when they had to don cowboy hats, roper boots, well worn-out jeans to indulge in some rodeo activity.
The intimate wedding, attended by close family and friends, was reported by Norwegian media outlet NRK.
D Gukesh will take on Magnus Carlsen in the opening round in what should be one of the most keenly-contested matches at the Norway Chess tournament.
Reigning World champion D Gukesh finally got his revenge on Magnus Carlsen as he pounced on a blunder by the World No 1 to defeat him for the first time in a classical game.
'Most of my birthdays I end up losing the game, so glad it did not repeat in the classical. When I was playing, I felt fine, but when I was losing, I was like, 'ok, not again'.
'Right now, I'm happy with the game that I played today. Tomorrow (Friday), hopefully, another good game I can play. And whatever the result will be, we'll see later. But yeah, just focusing on playing the game.'
Five-time World champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway got the better of D Gukesh in the opening round of Norway Chess.
Reigning world champion D Gukesh continued to turn adversity into opportunity as he wriggled out of a virtually intractable position to beat compatriot Arjun Erigaisi for the first time ever in a classical game and jump to sole second position after round 7 of the Norway Chess.
Anand said the presence of four Indians in the event tells about the growth of chess in the country.
Gukesh suffers crushing loss against Nakamura, Erigaisi wins in Norway Chess
Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa had drawn their previous three encounters in this format.
Vaishali defeated Muzychuk for the second time in the event in the Armageddon. It was a finely played Classical game wherein neither players could reach an advantage but in the Armageddon Vaishali took advantage of her better placed rooks to call the shots.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa scored a massive, hard-earned victory over world number two Fabiano Caruana of the United States and made his way to the top 10 of world rankings after the end of fifth round of the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger.
Praggnanandhaa did not have to sweat hard to hold Caruana under Classical but in the Armageddon the American was a transformed player as he took advantage of his white pieces.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is still third on 9.5 points in the Norway Chess tournament.
Vaishali stretched her lead to 2.5 points following her second win under classical time control.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa got off to a flier and defeated Firouzja Alireza of France in the Armageddon game in the first round of Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger on Tuesday.
The 16-year-old top seed was in fine form and remained unbeaten through the nine rounds. He finished the tournament with a victory over fellow-Indian V Praneeth, an International Master, late on Friday.
'It's such a mishmash of wonderful things, so many different cultures, subsections of society and weird histories.'
Instead of feeling her desperation, despair or extreme acts stemming from a mother's primal need to protect her brood, what comes through is hollow theatrics, feels Sukanya Verma.
India's legend Viswanathan Anand's winning run in the Classical event of the Norway Chess tournament came to an end after suffering a loss against American Wesley So in the fourth round in Stavanger on Saturday.
India's legend Viswanathan Anand continued his winning run in the Classical section of the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger as he defeated China's Wang Hao in the third round to remain on top of the standings.
Viswanathan Anand drew his sixth round contest against Anish Giri of the Netherlands in the Classical section to slip to second place in the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger.
