Norway Chess: Magnus Carlsen defeats D Gukesh in opening round | Chess News
World No.1 Magnus Carlsen defeated reigning World Champion D Gukesh in the opening round of Norway Chess in Stavanger, demonstrating his endgame expertise to secure three full points in a match that lasted over four hours. The classical chess game concluded after 55 moves, with Carlsen capitalising on a crucial mistake by the Indian player.Carlsen now shares the lead with American Grandmaster and world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura, who defeated American Fabiano Caruana, with both players earning three points.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!India’s Arjun Erigaisi secured 1.5 points by defeating China’s No.1 Wei Yi in an Armageddon game after their classical game ended in a draw. Wei earned one point from the encounter.The tournament’s scoring system awards three points for a Classical format win. In case of a draw, players receive one point each and compete for an additional half-point in Armageddon.Two-time World Rapid champion Koneru Humpy claimed victory against R. Vaishali in an all-Indian matchup, displaying calm and precise gameplay to exploit her opponent’s endgame error.The highly anticipated Carlsen-Gukesh match saw the Norwegian, playing with white pieces, successfully pressure his opponent into making a crucial endgame mistake.“I just realised I don’t know anything,” Carlsen admitted about his decision to play the Jobava London opening, which didn’t unfold as planned.Gukesh, playing with black pieces, had neutralised Carlsen’s white advantage by the 11th move, forcing the Norwegian to contemplate for over 15 minutes.“I tried to surprise him. I responded the way you often do, especially in the first round, in the absolute wussiest way possible,” said the 34-year-old Carlsen.“It’s still fairly equal, but there’s this small imbalance as his pawn structure is a little bit ruined,” Carlsen commented after the match. He acknowledged that Gukesh “did really, really well for a long time.”When asked about the significance of beating the reigning world champion, Carlsen remained modest: “Not necessarily, but every win in this tournament is hard to come by, so I’m happy with that.”Earlier in the day, world No.4 Erigaisi impressed by defeating Wei Yi in Armageddon after their initial draw in 54 moves. Erigaisi, with black pieces, played aggressively to force the draw before winning on time in Armageddon.The tournament features the top-six players in both Open and Women’s categories. The men’s lineup comprises Gukesh, Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, Erigaisi, and Wei Yi. In the women’s section, reigning world champion Ju Wenjun is joined by Lei Tingjie, Humpy, Anna Muzychuk, Vaishali, and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh.
Both tournaments follow a six-player double round-robin format with equal prize funds, highlighting a strong commitment to gender equality in chess. Results:Open: Wei Yi (China) drew with Arjun Erigaisi (India); Fabiano Caruana (USA) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Magnus Carlsen (Norway) beat D Gukesh (India).Women’s: Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) drew with Sara Khadem (Spain); Koneru Humpy (India) beat R Vaishali (India); Lei Tingjie (China) drew with Ju Wenjun (China).
