Magnus Carlsen slams desk after surprise loss to Gukesh Dommaraju in Norway

World champion Gukesh Dommaraju earned his first classical victory over Magnus Carlsen on Sunday on the Norway Chess event, toppling the longtime international No 1 in dramatic style and prompting the Norwegian to punch the desk in frustration sooner than storming out of the venue.

The win in around six of the double round-robin tournament marked a milestone second in Gukesh’s younger profession, now not for its stakes however for who it got here towards. Under drive for far of the competition, the 19-year-old Indian grandmaster grew to become the tables within the ultimate section, capitalizing on an extraordinary Carlsen blunder in time hassle to scouse borrow the purpose and shake up the standings in Stavanger.

“Right now, what means the most to me is that I didn’t lose the game,” Gukesh mentioned after the sport. “But yes, beating Magnus in any form is special.”

Carlsen had outplayed Gukesh very easily of their first-round assembly and seemed poised to take action once more, urgent from a awesome place during the middlegame. But with each avid gamers running on a 10-second increment, Carlsen faltered (52…Ne2+??). Gukesh defended doggedly and pounced when the Norwegian miscalculated, flipping the placement with an exact counterattack.

The 34-year-old resigned in a while after then slammed his fist at the desk, sending items damn. It was once an uncharacteristic show from the in most cases composed five-time international champion, who then left the corridor right away and skipped all media tasks.

“Well, we could say it was lucky,” mentioned Gukesh’s trainer Grzegorz Gajewski. “But we have to give a lot of credit to Guki for his stubbornness and for his resourcefulness.”

The outcome now not most effective evened their head-to-head on this event however delivered a quiet rebuke to Carlsen’s fresh grievance of Gukesh’s classical performances. After successful their previous come across, Carlsen had posted “You come at the king, you best not miss” on social media, an outdated Baltimore proverb that perceived to enhance his air of secrecy as the sport’s enduring alpha.

On Sunday, it was once {the teenager} whose purpose was once true. Gukesh, who changed into the youngest ever undisputed international champion in December and celebrated his 19th birthday closing Thursday, has struggled for consistency since claiming the crown. He got here into Sunday’s around six with only one win within the event. The comeback towards Carlsen may just end up a wanted self assurance jolt heading into the ultimate rounds.

Carlsen, who’s held the highest fit in Fide’s international scores for just about 15 directly years, reinforced his declare as the best participant of any technology in 2021, when he beaten Ian Nepomniachtchi in Dubai in his fourth protection of the sector championship. But he determined towards protecting it for a 5th time in 2023, bringing up a loss of motivation.

The win lifts Gukesh to 8½ issues, one at the back of joint leaders Carlsen and the American Fabiano Caruana, with 4 rounds nonetheless to play. It additionally continues a pattern of Indian breakthroughs in Stavanger: closing 12 months, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa changed into the primary Indian to overcome Carlsen in classical play at this tournament. Now Gukesh has adopted and arguably long past one higher.