Updated on: Oct 30, 2025 01:12 pm IST
Magnus Carlsen was asked about his first game against D Gukesh on day 2, where he won it on the black side of a Ruy Lopez.
Magnus Carlsen once again justified his World No. 1 ranking with a sensational win at the 2025 Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown tournament, with two games to spare. The Norwegian defeated D Gukesh twice, then beat Fabiano Caruana twice, to win the event. He also won the 120,000 dollar prize money before his final match vs Hikaru Nakamura.
Against Nakamura, he drew twice and received another 50,000 Dollars bonus for a total prize money of 170,000 Dollars in three days. Caruana came second, while Nakamura had to settle for third. Meanwhile, Gukesh finished fourth.
After his win, Carlsen was asked about his first game against Gukesh on day 2, where he won it on the black side of a Ruy Lopez.
What did Magnus Carlsen say?
Speaking to the St. Louis Chess Club, he said, “It was definitely quite similar to my game against him at Norway Chess. I was thinking during the game that ‘if I blow this one, then I don’t know what to do.'”
“It feels really good to win those kind of clean strategic games because you don’t get those very often. This one was just very clean and he didn’t really get any real chances,” he added.
Caruana, who finished in second position, said, “I don’t even understand how I got second. The system is weird, I scored -1 if you think about it.”
“I had some very good moments, but there were also some really bad moments. So it was very mixed. The result overall, I wouldn’t say I’m happy with it, but considering what I felt was not my best play, the difference between third and second place was the one against Fabiano. Overall, it’s a decent performance, but not what I was hoping for,” said Nakamura.
