Magnus Carlsen reacts to Gukesh defeat: ‘Poor from me, got soundly punished… but all credit to Gukesh’

You can read our analysis of how Gukesh defeated Magnus Carlsen here.

After the defeat, Carlsen told the Take Take Take app: “Gukesh is doing incredible well (at this tournament). It’s a long way to go in the tournament but winning five games in a row is no mean feat.”

How Gukesh defeated Magnus Carlsen

Before the start of the tournament, the Norwegian had not just questioned Gukesh’s credentials in rapid and blitz. He had gone as far as saying that he would treat the games against Gukesh (one in rapid and two in blitz over the weekend) as ones against one of the “presumably weaker players in the tournament”.

As Carlsen had explained, “Gukesh hasn’t done anything to indicate that he’s going to do well (in rapid and blitz). It remains to be proven that he’s one of the best players in such a format. This is a very, very strong field that we have here. Players like Gukesh have a lot to prove. In the course of 27 rounds, things usually show. I hope for Gukesh’s sake that he can play better.”

Magnus Carlsen takes on Gukesh at the Grand Chess Tour (PHOTO: Lennart Ootes via Grand Chess Tour)

Talking about the game itself, a disappointed world no 1 said: “It was poor (from me) but all credit to Gukesh. He’s playing well and taking his chances. I’ve played kind of poorly the whole tournament. This time I got soundly punished. I think I had a very nice position. He took his chance to open up the position, after that it was a little bit like earlier when I got short of time and I could not handle it that well. And Gukesh found a lot of really good moves.”

The Norwegian added: “Honestly, I’m not enjoying playing chess at all right now. I just… I don’t feel any flow at all. When I am playing, I’m constantly hesitating. It’s just really poor right now.”

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