“That’s honestly the pain of chess, especially classical chess,” shrugged Magnus Carlsen with a wistful smile in an interview with the official broadcast of Norway Chess just minutes after winning his seventh title at the Stavanger tournament. The world no 1 was talking about his own public meltdown after his defeat to world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in round 6 of the tournament on Sunday, where the Norwegian had blundered away a winnable position and then slammed the board in disgust, in a moment that has now gone viral. But Carlsen’s “pain of chess” could very well have been a reference to Gukesh, whose Friday had started with the teenager harbouring hopes of winning the title since he was just 0.5 points behind Carlsen in the standings. But the day had ended with Gukesh almost in tears as he got into a car that frisked him away from the playing hall.
In one of the most dramatic days at Norway Chess — where the momentum changed direction as quickly as the weather changes its mood in Stavanger — it was Carlsen who claimed his seventh Norway Chess title, pipping Gukesh and Fabiano Caruana to the finish line. A draw against Arjun Erigaisi was enough for the world no 1 to claim the title, while an emotional Gukesh lost to Caruana, which meant he ended third in the standings.
Carlsen has spoken a couple of times about losing interest in the tournament after that ego-bruising defeat to Gukesh. But it was only after winning the title on Friday that he showed the world how deep the scar had been. “My reaction didn’t really stop there (with slamming his fist). I was so out of it that I had to jump out of the car on the way back and just take several minutes just to compose myself,” he said.
He said that the pain he felt after the defeat to Gukesh was the strongest emotion he had experienced in the tournament. “And winning the tournament is more a relief than anything else,” he added.
For those wondering if this was Carlsen’s last game in classical chess, he said that he was “on the fence” about quitting the most traditional format of the sport. “I don’t think I will be playing a lot, but I am also not guaranteeing that I’m never playing a classical tournament again. I might be back here next year. I cannot be sure,” he said. “At the very least it’s nice to see I can still play. And it’s nice to see that at least in parts of the game I can still be quite a lot better than the guys who are trying to take over.”
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By “guys trying to take over”, Carlsen meant Gukesh and Arjun, both of whom had gone toe to toe against Carlsen on Friday: Gukesh trying to pip Carlsen to the title, while Arjun trying to beat the world no 1 on the board. Arjun was partially successful, beating Carlsen in the Armageddon with white pieces when the title was already secured. Gukesh had not.
Coming into the final game against Arjun, world no 1 Carlsen had 15 points while Gukesh was just half a point behind on 14.5. Gukesh was facing Caruana, who with 12.5 points was also in contention for the title. The fourth player with a shot at the title, Hikaru Nakamura (who had 13 points), had ended his chances to win the title after being held to a draw by China’s Wei Yi.
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Not just Gukesh, there was plenty of pain to go around in the final round of Norway Chess. Nakamura, like Gukesh, was overwhelmed at one point with emotion during his game, covering his face with his palm. Caruana spoke of how he had fallen apart during the previous couple of rounds, or else he could have won.
Even in the women’s event, India’s Humpy Koneru had come within touching distance of winning the women’s title before she was held to a draw, which meant that Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk had won the Norway Chess Women’s title despite losing to India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu in the Armageddon after their classical game ended in a draw. Humpy had needed to win to beat women’s world champion Ju Wenjun in the classical portion.
How Carlsen won
Both Gukesh and Caruana could smell their chance to win the title when the Carlsen versus Arjun game a few metres away was in the 30th move. As Caruana said: “Magnus’ game was a mess. That game could have gone anyway.”
The Norwegian had sac-ed his queen in the 25th move, and the eval bar had indicated a significant advantage for the Indian. By move 30, Carlsen was sans a queen while Arjun was a knight and a rook short compared to his opponent. But over the course of his next five moves, Arjun gave away all his advantage with the eval bar showing that the situation was level. Then, on move 40, Arjun had played 40.Qxb4 which saw Carlsen suddenly gaining an edge. By move 42, Arjun was in deep trouble. Eventually, he opted to play for a draw looking at the situation on the other board where Gukesh was losing to Caruana.
