 "Magnus Carlsen lost to a nine-year-old in online chess event, claims FIDE Master from Bangladesh")
Magnus Carlsen doesn’t lose too often. The Norwegian Grandmaster, after all, is a five-time world champion who voluntarily decided against defending his title in 2023 and someone who has been the world No 1 since 2011 and is also considered among the greatest to have ever played the game.
A FIDE Master from Bangladesh, however, has claimed that a nine-year-old boy he’s coaching has defeated the 34-year-old icon in an online tournament. The shocking result took place on Saturday during the Bullet Brawl event on Chess.com in which Carlsen, playing with black pieces, lost to an account that went by the name Nayemhaque22 – which belongs to FIDE Master Naim Haque.
Haque, however, claimed that he wasn’t the one who defeated Carlsen; rather he had handed his account over to his student Ryan Rashid Mugdha.
“I teach Mugdha chess, and he always loves to play online. I let him use my ID, and later, he suddenly called me, saying he had beaten Carlsen. At first, I couldn’t believe it. Then he sent me screenshots and all the game details, and I was amazed,” Haque told The Business Standard.
It remains to be seen whether Haque allowing his student to use his id goes against the tournament’s rules or not. Chess.com bars players from allowing others to use their account and also states that a player must be part of their Verified Titled Players club in order to participate in the tournament.
Did a mouse slip cost Carlsen the game?
Carlsen is yet to comment on his defeat on Saturday. However, some believe he suffered a mouse slip – something that is unique to online chess – during his 20th move as a result of which he pushed his queen to e6, which fell in the path of his opponent’s bishop.
Carlsen, who recently shared the blitz world title with Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi, was comfortably leading the game. The queen blunder, however, shifted the balance of the game decisively in favour of his opponent. And after fighting on for another 30 moves, Carlsen resigned.
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