[ad_1]
It was the fist slam heard ‘around the chess world.
Two of the titans of chess — one, the up-and-coming champion versus arguably the best participant of all time — squared off over the weekend in a sport that has drawn consideration not only for its end result however for the post-game response.
Magnus Carlsen, the top-ranked chess participant on this planet, misplaced for the primary time within the classical (assume lengthy, advanced video games) format to Gukesh Dommaraju, the present world champion who at 19 years outdated is seen as among the many sport’s brightest younger stars.
The sport, which got here as a part of the Norway Chess 2025 match, swung after Carlsen misplaced a knight, resulting in a frantic endgame by which every participant had solely seconds left on their clocks.
With Gukesh in a clearly profitable place, Carlsen expressed his frustration in a fashion relatable to most anybody who has ever performed chess: With a fist to the desk.
Carlsen then supplied a handshake of resignation earlier than standing up and providing one other relatable exasperation: “Oh my god,” together with an apology.
While the sport most likely would not have made the identical waves with out Carlsen’s response, the loss does provide a rising sense of Gukesh’s rise. But it additionally gives some sense of simply how dominant Carlsen stays on the age of 34.
In an interview instantly after the match, Gukesh detailed his shock at profitable the sport, which at one level appeared hopeless for him.
“There wasn’t much I could do,” he stated. “It was just clearly lost, so I was just trying to make moves which were tricky for him, and luckly he got into time scramble.”
“99 out of 100 times I would lose,” Gukesh added.
Others within the chess neighborhood supplied a bit extra help for Gukesh’s efficiency.
Gukesh additionally reportedly informed Chess.com that he may relate to Carlsen’s response: “I’ve also banged a lot of tables in my career!”
Carlsen retains his title because the top-ranked participant by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), which calculates scores primarily based on performances throughout sanctioned tournaments. Carlsen can be a five-time world chess champion, a title awarded for profitable the sport’s most presitigious match (The Candidates Tournament) and besting the present world champion (or with the present champion beating the winner of the Candidates).
Carlsen declined to defend the title in 2022, with China’s Ding Liren taking the highest spot solely to be defeated by Gukesh in 2024. Then solely 18, Gukesh grew to become the youngest world champion in historical past.
That has meant one thing of a pure rivarly between the 2.
Carlsen has beforehand praised the Indian phenom, noting just lately in an look on the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience that Gukesh “works his a– off all time time” but additionally isn’t as robust as a few of the shorter time codecs which have gained in reputation and status in recent times.
Along with the embrace of shorter time codecs, chess has boomed on-line, with a growth in protection and content material creators who analyze video games in actual time and supply loads of commentary.
And with Carlsen nonetheless by far the sport’s high star, a blunder and loss — and response — just like the one to Gukesh has sparked its personal compilations of reactions.
[ad_2]