D Gukesh has become synonymous with Indian chess since becoming the youngest-ever World Champion in history. The 18-year-old defeated Ding Liren last year to become World Champion, but fell victim to criticism as the likes of Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik felt that the c’ship wasn’t upto the level, especially after Liren made a huge blunder in the decisive game.
Fast forward to June, Gukesh silenced Carlsen with a stunning comeback win against the World No. 1. The World No. 1 wasn’t part of the previous FIDE cycle after pulling out, and won’t be featuring in the ongoing cycle. Many fans and GMs felt that Carlsen’s absence didn’t make Gukesh the actual world champion, as he needed to beat the Norwegian too, who is regarded as the greatest of all time.
The pair met in their Norway Chess opener, and Gukesh crumbled to a defeat. They met again in Round 6 and this time Gukesh stuck the basics ad fought hard. In the end game, a huge blunder from Carlsen saw Gukesh seal a massive a comeback. Meanwhile, Carlsen, in anger, smashed the table after losing.
Viswanathan Anand drops his verdict
Speaking to PTI, Viswanathan Anand gave his verdict on Carlsen’s controversial table slam reaction. He said, “But it (beating Gukesh) mattered a lot to him. Even if all the other games he’s kind of going through emotions (here) But in this game (against Gukesh), I think something he wanted to establish. He wanted to draw some line in the sand and tell all these kids ‘hang on a few years’, whatever. But this meant a lot. I think a 2-0 (win against Gukesh) here, he would have been very, very happy.”
Meanwhile, Anand also explained Carlsen’s anger, saying, “Against any opponent on earth, he would have hated losing such a good position. I mean to miss that the knight comes back. I felt exactly the same way when I blew my game against Magnus three years ago in 2022 in Norway.”
“Certainly, the game meant a lot to him and he came close and he slipped, but it could also be fatigue. It could be this new time control (in Norway Chess). Here we have this thing where we have Classical chess and then we have a sudden-death Armageddon tie-break (after every game in the event of a draw).”
Anand also pointed out similar reactions have happened in chess before too, and it is not the first instance. He said, “Yes, (I’ve seen) enough anger. All this has been around for a while, people screaming and cursing. I think it was in Delhi (2000 World Championship), where after his game with (Estonia’s) Jaan Ehlvest, (Vassily) Ivanchuk threw a chair across. So, the only difference is the camera, not the incident.”
“And, the other thing I would say is that this (game between Gukesh and Carlsen) was very intense. I mean, maybe Magnus isn’t that excited about classical chess, but he’s certainly taken on Gukesh (in the format).
“Or if not Gukesh personally the person who is now the world champion showing that he (Carlsen) can fight youngsters. I mean, a lot of stuff (was) probably going on in his head, and it came out. So, those two games (against Gukesh), he took very, very intensely and seriously. And that’s kind of partially what brought it (frustration) on.”
Predicting if FIDE would take action against Carlsen, he said, “Laws means definitions. It gets tricky. I guess it will come up (in FIDE discussions), I think. But, you know, on the other hand, if you take someone like (American GM) Hikaru (Nakamura), he says, ‘let’s have more of it’ (Carlsen incident). It gets attention. So, we’ll have to balance these things out. But certainly, I think it will be discussed very soon.”
