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June 2, 2025Updated 10:18 am EDT
Chess world champion Gukesh Dommaraju beat Magnus Carlsen in a classical match for the first time, causing the world No. 1 to slam the table in frustration at the Norway Chess 2025 event.
The pieces toppled over as Carlsen, widely regarded as one of chess’ greatest players, punched the table after realising defeat to the 19-year-old.
Carlsen had led much of the game but lost momentum after sacrificing his knight in a blunder. Dommaraju, the reigning world champion, looked in shock afterwards, calling the win “lucky” and said “99 out of 100 times I would lose,” according to Chess.com.
Carlsen shouted “oh my God” before apologising to the Indian teenager, who left the table to compose himself after the momentous win. As he walked out of the room, Carlsen then patted Dommaraju on the back.
According to Chess.com, Dommaraju said: “I’ve also banged a lot of tables in my career.”
That moment when World Champion @DGukesh won his game against World no.1 Magnus Carlsen!
Video: @adityasurroy21/ ChessBase India#chess #chessbaseindia #norwaychess #gukesh pic.twitter.com/9YQhHYlia0
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) June 1, 2025
The pair had met in the first round of the 10-round tournament in Stavanger, which Carlsen won, but Dommaraju took the round-six meeting, which lasted more than four hours.
Carlsen remains joint-top of the standings on 9.5 points at the five-player round-robin tournament with a 1,690,000 Norwegian Krone ($167,000) prize fund.
Dommaraju moved to third after gaining three points from the win to take his total to 8.5, behind leaders Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana.
Another scalp for chess’ youngest world champion
‘Gukesh’ from Chennai, India, became the youngest chess world champion in December of last year and celebrated his 19th birthday last Thursday.
He won the world championship in the absence of five-time winner Carlsen, who did not participate citing a lack of motivation.
It is highly anticipated when the two meet as Gukesh, 19, gets to test his greatness against the 34-year-old. This win adds to Gukesh’s credibility, with Carlsen still considered the best player in the world.
Carlsen has been the No. 1 ranked player in the FIDE world rankings for almost 15 years straight.
He told Al Arabiya news last month: “Is he (Dommaraju) the best player in the world? Well, I don’t necessarily think so, but he’s kind of done everything that you could expect from him and so much more as well.
“I know I’m the one who kind of brings it on in a sense by withdrawing from the world championship, but I think generally it’s a bit unfair to him. I think he’s doing fantastic and he’s very worthy as a world champion.”
(Carina Johansen/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)
Eduardo Tansley is an Explainer Journalist for The Athletic. He completed his postgraduate in Sports Journalism from St Mary's University, Twickenham
