Despite failing to win the title at Norway Chess, D Gukesh was able to showcase his reigning world champion credentials with a shock win against Magnus Carlsen. The India No. 3 finished third in Norway, wih a total of 14.5 points, and was behind table-topper Magnus Carlsen (16) and American GM Fabiano Caruana (15.5).
Other than beating Carlsen, Gukesh also secured wins against Hikaru Nakamura and Arjun Erigaisi. Reflecting on his Norway Chess campaign, Gukesh pointed out that there were ‘some things’ he was ‘really unhappy about’.
D Gukesh reflects on Norway Chess 2025 campaign
Speaking to ChessBase India, he said, “Can’t say happy, but there are some things to be happy about, some things to be really unhappy about.”
“One thing is starting so badly and finishing so well. In the final round, I had fair chances to win. Starting with two losses in a tournament like this, it’s not great. Another thing to be happy about is, in general, when I am in good form, like everything just goes very smoothly, like in Candidates, Olympiad, when I am in my best form, things just happen naturally.
“But sometimes, in tournaments when I am not feeling at my best, it goes shakily. In this tournament, clearly I was not nowhere close to my best. You don’t really control your form. It just comes and goes,” he added.
After his World Championship victory, Gukesh was in good form in Wijk aan Zee, where he came second at the Tata Masters. But then form crumbled as he had a poor run in the Weissenhaus and Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slams, and also came ninth in a Classical tournament in Bucharesh, out of ten competitors.
Gukesh’s Norway Chess campaign also began with a defeat to Carlsen, and then he lost to Arjun in the next round. But then he bounced back to winning ways in the third round, beating Nakamura and then also sealing an Armageddon win against Caruana. His best moment in the sixth round as he took advantage of a massive end-game blunder by Carlsen, to beat the World No. 1. It was also his maiden classical win vs Carlsen. The defeat also saw the Norwegian slam his table in anger.
“One thing about Magnus is that even when he is in bad form, he finishes second or third maximum. So one thing that I can be happy about is, even though I was playing pretty badly, to be honest, I still had chances to win. I guess the thing to be unhappy about is simply that in some games, I was just misevaluating,” said Gukesh.
“For example, in many games, pretty much all the games, there were one or two big moments. But okay. That’s a chess weakness. It’s nice that we could notice it, because I can just work on that. Some things to be happy about, some things to be not happy about. Overall, I think it was a nice experience,” he added.
