The Norwegian grandmaster lost control on the main stage.
Loading Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player…
It was a noise that the entire chess world heard.
With the clock ticking and defeat imminent, perhaps the greatest chess player of all time could no longer hide his anger. Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen slammed his fist on the table at Norway Chess 2025 and lost to rising Indian star Gukesh Dommaraj in a classical game for the first time in his career.
Gukesh turns the tide and WINS his first classical game against Magnus Carlsen! https://t.co/7Aid1cvNlK#NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/KMpRadXJq0
— chess24 (@chess24com) June 1, 2025
Although Dommaraju had previously won against Magnus in rapid and blitz, the 19-year-old from Chennai, India, achieved his first victory over Carlsen in the classical format, breaking from a losing position when Carlsen folded under pressure. For Carlsen, who was playing on home soil in Norway, the defeat was particularly cruel, as he had been in complete control of the game in the early and middle stages of the match.
It was the endgame, time was running out, and Carlsen made a mistake. With 47 seconds left on the clock, Carlsen used his 52nd move to check the white king Dommaraja. It turned out to be a mistake. With his two black pawns in advanced positions in the center of the board, Carlsen believed he could move his pieces to the other side and promote at least one to a queen. But Carlsen, known as a master of endgame theory, miscalculated.
“And the whole world gasped,” said Levi Roseman, an American international chess master and YouTube star. Dommaraiu launched a powerful counterattack that stunned Carlsen. The Norwegian grandmaster was paralyzed. With the tables turned, and Dommaraiu only a few moves away from promoting a pawn to a queen himself, Carlsen slammed the table with primal fury. “Oh, my God!” Carlsen grumbled, clearly annoyed. He then quickly shook hands with Dommaraiu, who seemed shocked by the results of the time trouble.
“First classical win against Magnus, I mean, not the way I wanted, but okay, I'll take it,” Dommaraiu said, calling his victory “luck.” Ironically, despite many of both players' chess pieces being scattered across the board, Dommaraiu's king remained upright, despite Carlsen's fists.
While casual observers were shocked by Carlsen’s physical outburst following the heartbreaking defeat, many top chess players expressed sympathy for the Norwegian’s pain. “If I had lost a game like that, maybe I would have been drinking all night or something,” said leading Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi. “We would all have felt the pain of that loss, he just reacted more instinctively,” noted American superstar Fabiano Caruana.
Still, Carlsen expressed dismay at his gut reaction during his post-match interview. “I wish I had a different reaction, but it is what it is.” It was the pair’s second meeting in the tournament this week. Carlsen won the first match, which was tied until Dommaraju fell in a stretch where Carlsen usually performs best. But on Sunday, it was Dommaraju who benefited most from the time crunch.
Although Carlsen retains his highest rating according to
Sourse: theamericanconservative.com
