 "D Gukesh clinched his first-ever classical win over Magnus Carlsen at Norway Chess 2025. Image: Norway Chess")
Fabiano Caruana believes world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen had extra motivation behind his desire to beat world champion D Gukesh at Norway Chess 2025. He feels, Magnus wanted to beat Gukesh — not just to prove he’s still the better player, but also to show that the 19-year-old Indian isn’t the best in the world right now.
But if that was the plan, it clearly backfired as Carlsen won the opening match against Gukesh at Norway Chess but lost the second one, his first in classical chess against the world champion. The video of the angry fist smash by Carlsen after losing his first-ever match to Gukesh had become a worldwide rage .
Five-time world champion Carlsen’s reaction underlined his disappointment at losing to Gukesh as he had celebrated his first-round win over the Indian with a famous quote from an HBO series, The Wire, declaring himself as the ‘king’ of the chess world .
It must be noted that this was Carlsen’s first meeting with Gukesh in classical chess since he became the world champion.
‘Magnus wanted to dominate Gukesh’
Reflecting on Carlsen’s determination to beat Gukesh, American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, who came second at the Norway Chess 2025 behind the Norwegian, said that Carlsen wanted to dominate Gukesh at the tournament to prove a point.
“Magnus definitely wanted to win (against Gukesh) to prove a point: the point being that not only is he (Gukesh) not nearly as strong as Magnus but also that he’s not as strong as other players. I think that would be his point, that’s what he was trying to go for. So I think Magnus wanted to dominate. And I don’t think he cared as much if he were to dominate Arjun (Erigaisi) for example,” Caruana said on the C Squared Podcast.
“Gukesh is a world champion. So that carries a bit more weight. There was also Wei Yi, who’s a great player. But it doesn’t feel like Magnus has anything that he has possibly to prove against Wei Yi or against me. Maybe against Hikaru (Nakamura) and me he would feel like this is a really nice game to win,” added Caruana, who defeated Gukesh in the last round to help Carlsen win his home tournament.
For those hoping to see more of Carlsen vs Gukesh, it’s worth noting that the former world champion—who gave up his title in 2022—rarely plays classical chess these days. We may have to wait until Norway Chess 2026 for a rematch in this format.