World Champion Gukesh Defeats Carlsen at Norway Chess 2025
World Champion Gukesh Defeats Carlsen at Norway Chess 2025
World champion D Gukesh made history by defeating Magnus Carlsen for the first time in a classical match. Read about this epic showdown and Carlsen's unexpected reaction.
In the sixth round of Norway Chess on Sunday night, world champion D Gukesh took advantage of a mistake made by Magnus Carlsen to defeat him for the first time in a classical game, which caused Carlsen to throw a mini-fit. Gukesh leaped out of his seat and started walking in the opposite direction, seemingly in shock at what he had just accomplished. When he was the world champion, he had accomplished what Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, and V Anand were unable to do: defeat the current world number one, in this case Garry Kasparov, in the traditional format.
Gukesh defeated the Norwegian grandmaster in a classical match for the first time ever. After Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, the 19-year-old became the second Indian player in the competition's history to defeat Carlsen. For the majority of the match, Carlsen had the advantage over Gukesh; however, the teenager ultimately overcame his nervousness and won the match.
D Gukesh is now only one point behind Carlsen and American Fabiano Caruana in the Norway Chess 2025 points table, having jumped to third place with 8.5 points after this victory.
“I don’t know, I’m still kind of shaken from that game,” Gukesh told Norway Chess broadcasters TV2. “I don’t know what happened, basically. There wasn’t much I could do, it was clearly lost. I was just trying to make moves which kind of was tricky for him and luckily he got into time scramble. One thing I learned from this tournament was time scrambles can go out of control.”
Magnus Carlsen defeated reigning World Champion D Gukesh in an exciting match earlier on May 27 in the Round One main event at Norway Chess 2025, delivering on expectations with a classic king hunt.
In addition to being their first classical match since Gukesh took home the world championship, this was Carlsen's first time playing individual classical chess in almost a year. Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna, Gukesh's coach, responded to the unexpected win by praising the teen's fortitude and tenacity.
“We have to give a lot of credit to Gukesh for his stubbornness and for his resourcefulness because I think he was aware that he was dead lost for so long, yet he kept kicking, he kept kicking, and the time went lower, the more chances he had to actually do something with the position. I don’t think his intention was to win that, but yeah, I’m sure he is happy,” Vishnu Prasanna said.
With the competition for the top spot intensifying as the tournament enters its final stages, the victory has heightened the level of excitement. After six rounds, Gukesh is in second place with one point less than Carlsen, who is still ahead of Fabiano Caruana at Norway Chess 2025 with 9.5 points.
