 "World chess champion D Gukesh finds himself in uncharted territory with two back-to-back defeats at the Norway Chess 2025. Image: Norway Chess 2025")
Arjun Erigaisi won the battle of the Indians at the Norway Chess 2025 on Tuesday as he defeated world champion D Gukesh to register his second consecutive victory in the tournament . Arjun Erigaisi is now in a joint lead at the prestigious classical chess tournament after having beaten China’s Wei Yi in the Armageddon tie-breaker, on Monday.
Things are not the same for India’s 18-year-old chess star D Gukesh, though, as he is currently at the bottom of the six-player standings with 0 points. He had lost to world No.1 Carlsen on Monday.
One loss or two is not a major concern as far as Gukesh is concerned, but the nature of the defeats is also a bit troubling now. Carlsen gave Gukesh an early advantage by making one of the easiest opening moves, but Gukesh failed to capitalise and a late blunder allowed the Norwegian to defeat the reigning world champion and win the battle of prestige .
Gukesh struggles to tackle Erigaisi’s prep
Against Erigaisi, Gukesh was once again found guilty of taking too much time for his moves, which forced him into a familiar problem, in a time scramble in the later part of the game. Sample this: Gukesh spent nearly 15 minutes on his eighth moves and another 28 minutes on the 10th. By this time, Erigaisi had spent only three minutes.
By the end of one hour in the match, Erigaisi still had 1 hour and 57 minutes on his clock, compared to Gukesh’s 1 hour and 4 minutes.
You might be wondering why Gukesh took so long. The reason could be his intent to deviate from Erigaisi’s preparation. The 21-year-old Indian Grandmaster chose the same opening as the infamous 2022 Sinquefield Cup clash between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann — a game that sparked a massive cheating controversy.
The first seven moves on Tuesday — 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 dxc4 — were the exact first seven moves in the Carlsen vs Niemann battle. That’s why Erigaisi played so quickly; he was well within his preparation. Gukesh likely recognised the resemblance and appeared to be searching for a way to deviate and throw his opponent off track.
Gukesh is known more for his deep calculation than for instinctive play. He spent a lot of time thinking at the board but struggled to generate a fresh plan in the opening, ultimately falling behind on the clock.
“In chess, surprisingly, identical games are not played. They deviate at some point,” Indian chess legend and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand said after the first seven moves of the Erigaisi-Gukesh match were the same as the Carlsen-Niemann game.
Gukesh struggling with world champion tag?
Gukesh recently said that he has nothing to prove , but it seems he is trying too hard, trying to find out new openings that probably do not exist. The world champion who stunned Ding Liren in December 2024 to clinch the biggest crown in the world of sports had his accuracy dropping below 90 against Erigaisi, highlighting the struggle he is facing.
World No.2 Hikaru Nakamura suggested that talk of Gukesh being the “weakest world champion” has affected his confidence, which in turn has impacted his preparation.
“Gukesh has been maligned perhaps recently with people talking about how he is the weakest world champion, this that, yada yada yada. It seems that he is not well-prepared for the line that Arjun played. He’s already down an hour on the clock. After the loss yesterday, he’s already feeling some nerves or lack of confidence. So I am very worried about his position for a second day in a row,” Nakamura said in a confessional booth midway during the game, as per the Indian Express.
At the 2024 World Chess Championship, Gukesh’s preparation and calculation were his biggest strengths. But for now, those qualities seem to have deserted him. His recent form reflects that — he entered the Norway Chess tournament after winning just one game at the Superbet Classic, where he finished seventh out of 10 players.
In the two Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour events, he consistently found himself in the bottom half of the standings.
The Indian chess prodigy, Gukesh, would be in a better position to know exactly what’s going wrong with his game at the moment, but it’s clear that something is off. We can only hope his support system provides the motivation and guidance he needs to bounce back sooner rather than later.