Magnus Carlsen Humbled At Norway Chess 2025 As Gukesh Steals A Win
Gukesh’s win against Carlsen could just be termed Turnaround of the Year at the classic chess championship
Magnus Carlsen—five-time World Champion, endgame executioner, cold-blooded closer—has long lived in the pantheon. But on Sunday in Stavanger at Norway Chess 2025 in a match against the 19-year-old Indian World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju the tables turned.
In a game that looked like a masterclass in control from Carlsen—all confident about making it hard for Gukesh to have an upperhand in the game—the crowd in Stavanger witnessed what might just go down as Turnaround of the Year.
Carlsen, who had Gukesh pinned, outplayed, and—let's be honest—outclassed for 43 soul-crushing moves, faltered at the very moment he could see the finish line.
Cue 44...f6?!
Cue silence.
Cue disbelief. Loud thud on the table. Carlsen defeated and Gukesh visibly shocked.
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While Carlsen made a move that changed the course of the game and quickly humbled him down, it is said if Carlsen had won, it was the potential Game of The Year for him in the classics. Against Gukesh, Carlsen started with a Berlin and then later played 7...a6. By move 19, he was already optimistic, even if he assumed the position was still close to equal.
However, Gukesh prolonged the game and kept finding move after move to survive. He said, "There wasn't much I could do. It was just clearly lost... luckily he got into a time scramble." Carlsen's 44...f6?! was, at least objectively, the turning point when Black's winning position started to unwind a little.
"I mean, [it was] not the way I wanted it to be, but okay, I'll take it," Gukesh added as he was seen experiencing the surrealness of the moment as Carlsen banged the table immediately after making the move leaving both in disbelief over what had transpired.
The win makes Gukesh the second Indian chess player after R Pragganandha to win against Carlsen in Classic chess. Earlier Carlsen had commented on Gukesh’s play on an episode of Joe Rogan’s Podcast suggesting that D Gukesh is not strong in all forms of chess, including classical, rapid, and blitz.
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Although Carlsen had acknowledged that Gukesh is a dedicated student of the game but he also stated that he isn't strong in other chess formats.
Despite the loss against Gukesh, Carlsen is currently share the position with Caruana on 9.5, while Gukesh is second on 8.5. Meanwhile, in other matches, Caruana defeated Hikaru Nakamura in Armageddon, while Arjun Erigaisi had a similar win over Wei Yi.