Carlsen’s finger-on-lips gesture to fans steals show in thrilling win over Nakamura at Esports WC: ‘It pissed me off’

World No.1 chess player Magnus Carlsen can be very brutal at times and the dominant side of the highest-rated player of all time came out during his semi-finals with close friend Hikaru Nakamura at the Esports World Cup 2025, played at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday. After beating India’s Nihal Sarin 2.5-0.5 in the quarter-finals, Team Liquid’s Carlsen was up against his closest rival, world No.2 Nakamura, who is representing Team Falcons.

With young prodigy Alireza Firouzja and Nakamura in their team, Team Falcons, who hail from Saudi Arabia, have one of the strongest chess sides in the ongoing Esports World Cup 2025. Falcons have proved their worth with Firouzja beating India’s Arjun Erigaisi 4-1 and reaching the final.

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It could have been an all-Team Falcons final, but Nakamura needed to overcome the Magnus challenge in the semi-finals. The American Grandmaster put up a thrilling fight, forcing the match into an Armageddon. Only for the five-time chess world champion, Magnus Carlsen, to triumph 4-3.

The semi-finals were played in the best-of-six format as Carlsen won the first game and was leading in the second game before losing control. However, Nakumara failed to find a win and took a draw by repetition.

Carlsen hists back at crowd with finger-on-lips gesture

The tables were turned in the third game as Nakamura became the first player to win a game against Magnus at the Esports World Cup, as he trapped Carlsen’s queen after playing the King’s Indian Defense.

This result was momentous and the local Team Falcons fans in the arena cheered vociferously, celebrating Nakamura’s infliction of the first loss of the tournament on Carlsen. But the thing with Magnus is that he never forgets a loss, or the crowd behaviour in this case.

Nakamura plays the KID, traps Carlsen's queen and inflicts the 1st loss on Magnus of the #EsportsWorldCup to level the scores at 1.5-1.5 with 3 games to go! https://t.co/RYvzSBtX4f pic.twitter.com/ACiQjliRkg

— chess24 (@chess24com) July 31, 2025

He launched a strong comeback in Game 4 and just as he played 34…a4!, Carlsen realised he was winning. This was followed by a finger-on-lips gesture towards the fans by Carlsen as he stamped his authority in the arena by winning the fourth match.

“It pissed me off when they cheered when Hikaru was winning,” Carlsen would later say, sharing the reason behind the finger-on-lips gesture.

Magnus silences the crowd and drops some bars at EWC🤫🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Ao2MPjINal

— Take Take Take (@TakeTakeTakeApp) July 31, 2025

Game 5 ended in a quiet draw before Nakamura made a comeback in the final game to force the Armageddon decider. It was decided by a blunder from Nakamura as Carlsen walked into the final against Firouzja.

Nakamura will now take on Erigaisi in the third-place match. The winner will get $145,000 (approximately Rs 1.27 crore) prize money, while Carlsen has a chance to take home $250,000 (approximately Rs 2.17 crore) as the winner of the competition.

Carlsen on beating Nakamura, facing Firouzja in Esports World Cup final

“I guess it was a combination of both. Obviously this is a match that got out of control completely and it really could have gone either way. It was a total coin flip towards the end. But I pulled through. I would say, I am also happy because at some point, if you play like one bad game and ruin it because of that, that’s the only thing, but I played a lot of poor games. Really could have gone either way, so I am super happy,” Carlsen told Take Take Take, reflecting on the see-saw battle against Nakamura in the semi-finals.

“When the bracket broke the way it did, I was quite sure that Alireza would dispatch off his side of the bracket and I would have to beat them both, so that’s fair enough. You usually have to beat your main contenders to win. If I win, I will definitely earn a lot of money; if he wins…”

“Team Liquid really needs this (cheering for their players) in the team championship. There are reasons to be relieved for a lot of people. Hopefully, I can give them more to cheer and be relieved tomorrow.”