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Even before world champion D Gukesh had entirely gathered the magnitude of his move, a fuming Magnus Carlsen had banged the chessboard in disbelief at his stupefying defeat. A swift handshake was followed by a couple of apologies and an appreciative pat on the back as Carlsen stormed out of the hall, only a week out from his pompous social media response after forcing Gukesh into resignation in the first round at the Norway Chess 2025.
Gukesh went at the king and did not miss this time, a 62-move round 6 tussle ending with the world champion’s first win over the legendary Norwegian. The chess world erupted in response to the tantalising finish in Stavanger.
Coming back from a “nearly lost” position, Gukesh maintained his calm and accounted for the luck that went in his favour during the game. “There wasn’t much I could do, it was just clearly lost. So I was just trying to make moves which kind of were tricky for him. Luckily, he got into a time scramble. One thing that I have learned from is that time scrambles can get too much out of control (laughs)…. 99 out of 100 times I would lose..just a lucky day,” Gukesh told chess.com after the win.
Reacting to Gukesh’s response on X was chess legend Susan Polgar, who praised the 19-year-old’s solidity when under pressure. “The World Champion showed the true meaning of “Win with Grace”! He has the heart of a warrior! Knowing that he was in big trouble both on the board and on the clock, he fought as hard as he could to survive, and was rewarded with a big victory,” she wrote.
The World Champion showed the true meaning of "Win with Grace"! He has the heart of a warrior! Knowing that he was in big trouble both on the board and on the clock, he fought as hard as he could to survive, and was rewarded with a big victory! 👏 https://t.co/TaY6AR24PU
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) June 1, 2025
Earlier in the night, Susan had recapped how the result was the “biggest shock” on the board in 2025 and probably one of the most hard-hitting defeats of Carlsen’s epochal career.
“Carlsen outplayed Gukesh, made massive blunder to lose a winning game! This is the biggest shock of the year! Carlsen rarely loses in classical chess, and he rarely commits big blunders. He was playing so well with the black pieces in round 6 in Norway against Gukesh. He had a winning position with more time on the clock. This has to be one of the most painful losses in his spectacular career. I am sure he is very angry with himself,” remarked Polgar.
When you come at the world champ, you better not miss 😛 pic.twitter.com/WzWNaAT6QC
— Srinath Narayanan (@srinathchess) June 1, 2025
Sharing an image of Carlsen’s final slip-up on the board, India’s premier chess coach and GM Srinath Narayanan took a subtle dig at Carlsen’s X post referring to the “You come at the king, you best not miss” quote from an HBO show, The Wire.
Today's game was like between a grandpa and a child, except the grandpa is the GOAT and the child is the World Champion.♟️🔥
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) June 1, 2025
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Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri, however, served up the quirkiest take on Gukesh’s triumph of the Carlsen challenge. “Today’s game was like between a grandpa and a child, except the grandpa is the GOAT and the child is the World Champion,” the 30-year-old wrote on X.
Other reactions on Gukesh’s win
I am often called a "Magnus hater", because I don't agree with everything he does and because I think the number one spot should be decided by current results (atp-like) and not a statistical prediction of the encounter between two players (elo).
Let me make it clear, I don't… https://t.co/u5R2Aocr7S
— GM Jacob Aagaard (@GMJacobAagaard) June 1, 2025
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🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/GzTYa3Fznn
— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) June 1, 2025
English (US) ·