 "World champion D Gukesh defeated Magnus Carlsen in Round 6 of Norway Chess after scripting a comeback from a losing position. Image: Norway Chess")
World Chess Champion Dommaraju Gukesh has opened up about his performance at the Norway Chess 2025 tournament. In a conversation with ChessBase India, the 19-year-old spoke honestly about the ups and downs of his campaign, saying that while there were a few positives, there were also several things that didn’t go well.
Gukesh admitted that starting the tournament with two losses was tough, but he was glad to finish on a positive note. Gukesh began his tournament with a loss to World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, followed by another defeat to fellow Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi. But he bounced back quickly by beating American GM Hikaru Nakamura in the third round, and later won an Armageddon game against Fabiano Caruana.
“Can’t say happy, but there are some things to be happy about, some things to be really unhappy about. One thing is starting so badly and finishing so well. In the final round, I had fair chances to win. Starting with two losses in a tournament like this, it’s not great. Another thing to be happy about is, in general, when I am in good form, like everything just goes very smoothly, like in Candidates, Olympiad, when I am in my best form, things just happen naturally," Gukesh said.
Gukesh on his win over Carlsen
Gukesh’s most special moment came in the sixth round when he defeated Carlsen in a classical game for the first time. The Norwegian made a big mistake in the endgame and Gukesh took full advantage to hand him a defeat. Carlsen was so upset that he slammed the table after the loss .
“One thing about Magnus is that even when he is in bad form, he finishes second or third maximum. So one thing that I can be happy about is, even though I was playing pretty badly, to be honest, I still had chances to win. I guess the thing to be unhappy about is simply that in some games, I was just misevaluating,” he said.
“For example, in many games, pretty much all the games, there were one or two big moments. But okay. That’s a chess weakness. It’s nice that we could notice it, because I can just work on that. Some things to be happy about, some things to be not happy about. Overall, I think it was a nice experience,” Gukesh added.
Meanwhile, Gukesh has opted to withdraw from the Las Vegas Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour after struggling in the first two legs in Weissenhaus and Paris. Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi has been added as his replacement for the event.