The rules for participation are governed by the Norwegian Chess Federation (NSF). The championship ("Elite") section is restricted to the top-rated players. In order to play for the most prestigious title of national chess champion, a player must meet at least one of the following criteria : • Won the Norwegian Championship in one of the three preceding years. • Finished third or better in last year's championship. • Won the national championship in the Junior section the previous year. • Finished first or second in the Candidate Elite section (the second highest section, immediately below Elite) the previous year. • Have a sufficiently high
Elo rating (as of 2025 the lower limit is 2400). • Been deemed otherwise eligible for participation by the Elite Committee of the Norwegian Chess Federation. In general, an even number of participants is sought in the championship section to prevent
byes from occurring. However, the
Landsturnering has several sections for lower-rated players, as well as sections for different age groups. In general, players must be members of the Norwegian Chess Federation, or a club affiliated with the federation, although exceptions may be made if the person is a member of another national chess federation. To be eligible for a championship title, a player must either be a Norwegian citizen or have been a resident of Norway for the past year. The current regulations provide for the following sections below the Elite section : • Candidate Elite (rating 2200 - 2399) • Master (rating 2000 - 2199) • Class 1 (rating 1800 - 1999) • Class 2 (rating 1600 - 1799) • Class 3 (rating under 1600) • Senior 50 (over 50) • Senior 65 (over 65) • Senior B (over 50, rating under 1600) • Junior A (age under 20) • Junior B (age under 20, rating under 1800) • Cadet A (age under 16) • Cadet B (age under 16, rating under 1800) •
Lilleputt (age under 13) •
Miniputt (age under 11) The Senior, Junior and Cadet categories are split into an "A" and "B" group by rating, but are combined if either of the groups has fewer than 10 participants. Qualification for the classes with a lower age limit ("Senior") require that the player reach that age before 31 December of that year, while the classes with an upper age limit require that the player be under the age limit on 1 January of that year. A player cannot be required to play in a higher class than what the last rating list indicates; however, a player may elect to play up if a sufficiently high rating was obtained on any of the monthly official rating lists during the year. In addition, players may elect to play in a higher section if they scored at least 60% in that same class the previous year, if they were in the top 7% of the class below the previous year, or if they won the Norwegian Grand Prix tournament series for the rating class below in the previous year. In addition, winners of the individual circuit championships and the champion of Northern Norway are automatically qualified for play in the Master class, regardless of rating. The top two finishers of the Candidate Elite class qualify for next year's Elite section. ==Arrangement==