Magnus Carlsen Outplays World Champion Gukesh in Norway Chess Opener

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Magnus Carlsen reminded the chess world of his all-format supremacy by toppling reigning world champion D Gukesh in the first round of Norway Chess 2025, held in Stavanger on Monday.

The Norwegian grandmaster, who has stepped away from the world title scene in Classical chess, showcased his strategic depth in a battle that lasted nearly five hours and ended after 56 hard-fought moves.

The clash marked Gukesh's first Classical encounter against Carlsen since his historic world title win in Singapore last year. Looking to catch the Indian prodigy off-guard, Carlsen opted for the unconventional Jobava London opening. Despite this creative start, Gukesh, playing black, quickly regained equilibrium by the 11th move and even managed to put Carlsen on the defensive.

But Carlsen's resilience shone through. Known today more for his exploits in shorter formats like Blitz, Rapid, and Freestyle chess, the five-time world champion dug deep to turn the tables in a grueling endgame.

"I don't know how I won this game. At some point, I thought it was going to be a draw," Carlsen told Norwegian broadcaster TV2 after the win, which earned him three full points under the tournament's scoring system.

Elsewhere, India's Arjun Erigaisi made headlines of his own by defeating China's top-ranked Wei Yi in Armageddon. The two had earlier played out a 54-move draw in Classical time control. In the high-stakes tiebreaker, where black gets only seven minutes compared to white's ten, Erigaisi played the faster and smarter game to secure victory on time.

This impressive result gave Erigaisi 1.5 points-one for the draw and an extra 0.5 for the Armageddon win-while Wei Yi settled for one point.

The opening round of the six-player, round-robin event placed the spotlight squarely on Carlsen versus Gukesh, but Erigaisi's performance was an early sign that the tournament may have plenty of twists to come.

Norway Chess uses an innovative scoring system: three points for a Classical win, one point each for a draw, and an additional half-point for the player who wins in Armageddon. The format encourages fighting chess and makes each round a potential game-changer in the standings.