All posts tagged: gukesh norway chess

Magnus Carlsen gets revenge over Gukesh after year-long wait

Magnus Carlsen gets revenge over Gukesh after year-long wait

On his last day as a teenager — and then again on his first day as a 20-year-old — world champion D Gukesh was reminded that there is still some growing up for him to do. On Thursday, a day before he turned 20, the world champion from India picked up a fight on the board against world no 1 Magnus Carlsen. And lost. “Gukesh sometimes plays a bit too ambitiously. He wanted to prove a serious advantage today, which I’m not sure there was,” Carlsen said about his quarry later. “Eventually, he played himself into some trouble. And I took over more and more.” Even though Friday was a rest day at the tournament, Gukesh turned 20 in the company of fellow grandmasters, including world championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov and Carlsen. The players spent three hours on sailboats racing against each other at Oslofjord in the annual Norway Chess games, where at least twice, impromptu chorus of happy birthday rang out for a grinning Gukesh. But just before the players were to get on …

Magnus Carlsen, Gukesh and the press conference that chess didn’t know it needed

Magnus Carlsen, Gukesh and the press conference that chess didn’t know it needed

3 min readOsloMay 25, 2026 11:27 PM IST Magnus Carlsen heard the question — would Gukesh make him slam the table in anger again by beating him — and burst out laughing. On his right, the teenager who now holds the world champion’s title tried to hold a straight face for a few seconds, exchanged a glance with Praggnanandhaa beside him, and gave up. The room at the Thon Opera Hotel in Oslo had been waiting for a press conference like this for a long time. Chess, it turns out, had been waiting longer. A year ago, at the same pre-tournament press conference before Norway Chess 2025, a reporter had asked the 12 grandmasters on the dais how boring they found press conferences. Nobody wanted to answer. They exchanged glances. Eventually Hikaru Nakamura, the most outspoken of them, admitted the truth: very boring. This year was different. The mood shifted with every question. One minute the grandmasters were giggling about challenges set by the Norway Chess social media team. The next, Carlsen, Gukesh and Ju …