120th
Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are all out, which may partly be explained by a clash with the Chess 9LX Champions Showdown in Saint Louis (planned for September 7-10 - check out our full 2021 Chess Calendar).
There are some impressive replacements, however, including World Championship Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, so that it’s very likely the Clarion Hotel in Stavanger will witness Magnus and Ian clash for the final time in a classical game before their World Championship match starts in Dubai on November 24th.
Sergey Karjakin beat Fabiano Caruana in Norway Chess 2014 to finish half a point ahead of Magnus and win his 2nd event in a row | photo: Even Emberland, official website