Carlsen denies seeing memes on outburst vs Gukesh, responds to Kasparov's 'heavier tables' jibe: ‘I don’t go around...’

Magnus Carlsen had made headlines across the world during last month’s Norway Chess in Stavanger, where he not only defended his title to win his home event for the seventh time but also lost to D Gukesh for the first time in his career.

And more than the stunning 62-move loss against the 19-year-old Grandmaster from Chennai, it was Carlsen’s reaction to the defeat that got the chess community buzzing. The 34-year-old Norwegian chess icon slammed his fist on the table in anger after being forced to resign by his opponent, whom he had defeated earlier in the same tournament.

And his outburst ended up becoming content for social media memes, with Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov even joking that the organisers of the ongoing SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia in Zagreb might be tempted to get “heavier tables” for him.

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Carlsen denies seeing memes on his outburst in Norway

When asked about the response to his angry reaction in Stavanger, Carlsen denied coming across social media memes while adding that he planned to play “good moves” to avoid the possibility of another angry reaction.

“No, I plan to make good moves so that those gestures won’t be necessary,” Carlsen said in a chat with Grand Chess Tour, which includes the ongoing tournament in Croatia.

“I haven’t seen any memes. I mean, for me, it was a painful loss for sure. And I mean, I understand there’s going to be discourse around it, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to enjoy it.

“I would have much preferred to win the game the way that I should. I think overall it’s good for publicity is good for chess, but no, I don’t go around looking out for those things,” he added.

SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia got underway on Wednesday with Gukesh starting his campaign with a defeat against Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, before bouncing back against French GM Alireza Firouzja and compatriot R Praggnanandhaa in the next two rapid games.

Carlsen, on the other hand, drew against Croatian GM Ivan Saric and Duda while defeating American GM Wesley So.

Gukesh ended the opening day in the joint-lead along with Carlsen, So and Duda.