Magnus Carlsen slammed the table with such force that the pieces jumped from the board. Immediately, he resigned his game against teenage world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who thereby achieved his first victory in a classical (slow) game against the world no 1. His comment on Carlsen’s pique was typically gracious: ‘I’ve also banged a lot of tables in my career.’
It was surely the manner of the loss which exasperated Carlsen. The Norwegian had reached a winning position with plenty of time on the clock, but missed opportunities to convert. Gukesh clung on until they reached the position below, when Carlsen, with less than a minute left, made a critical miscalculation:
Gukesh Dommaraju – Magnus Carlsen
Norway Chess 2025
52… Ne2+?? 52…Re8! would have forced Gukesh to tread carefully. One path to a draw is 53 Nxe5 Ne2+ 54 Rxe2+ Kxe2 55 Kf4! d4. Here, 56 h5 looks plausible, but 56…gxh5 57 gxh5 Rxe5 58 Kxe5 d3 59 h6 d2 60 h7 d1=Q 61 h8=Q Qa1+ wins with a skewer. Instead, the circumspect 56 Nc4! d3 57 h5 gxh5 58 gxh5 secures the draw. The knight will be sacrificed the knight for the d-pawn while the h-pawn advances to win the rook. 53 Rxe2+ Kxe2 54 Nxf8 d4 At first glance, the knight cannot prevent the d-pawn from promoting, as indeed it cannot after 55 Nxg6? d3. Probably Carlsen also saw that 55 h5 gxh5 56 gxh5 d3 57 h6 d2 58 h7 d1=Q 59 h8=Q Qg1+ 60 Kh3 Qh1+ wins the queen with a skewer. But the knight is the trickiest of pieces: 55 Ne6! d3 56 Nc5 Ke3 A desperate try from Carlsen, as 56… d2 57 Ne4! d1=Q 58 Nc3+ wins easily. 57 Na4 e4 58 h5 gxh5 59 gxh5 Kd2 60 Nb2! Another precise move. Bringing the knight to c4 is the only way to win. e3 61 Nc4+ Ke2 62 Kf4 Black resigns as 62…d2 63 Nxe3 wins easily.
Gukesh’s display of agility with his knight is reminiscent of an endgame study (i.e. puzzle) by the great Soviet composer Nikolai Grigoriev.
White to play and draw
Faced with the advancing b-pawn, White’s plight appears desperate. For example, 1 Kg2 Kc5 2 Nc7 b3 3 Ne6+ Kc4 and the pawn cannot be stopped. 1 Nc7+ Kc4 2 Ne8 By the mysterious geometry of knights, going forwards is the fastest way back. b3 3 Nd6+ Kc3 or 3…Kd3 4 Nb5 b2 5 Na3 is just in time. 4 Ne4+ Kc2 5 Nd6! Once again, the knight’s direction defies expectations. b2 6 Nc4! Gukesh employed the same idea. But not 6 Nb5 Kb3 7 Nd4+ Kc3 8 Nb5 Kb4! and Black wins. b1=Q 7 Na3+ Draw
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