Magnus Carlsen beats Gukesh at Norway: First clash after the Championship Final

The Norway Chess tournament that has been happening from 26 May to 6 June 2025 just got an exciting match between Magnus Carlsen and Gukesh on Tuesday. The duo last met at the World Championship that announced the young 18 year old Gukesh as the winner. 

Magnus beat Gukesh Dommaraju in a spectacular game of time and tie with the final 15 seconds juggled between the master minds. The Norway Tournament saw a rested start from both followed by fireworks from Carlsen who set out to attack the current World Champion in the first round in Stavanger. 

Carlsen easily capitalised on Gukesh’s slip ups with the game concluded after 55 moves and a tightening time gripping the Indian. Now the current rankings are shared by World No.1 Carlsen and World No.2 Hikaru Nakamura who trumped America’s Fabiano Caruana. The first round got both Carlsen and Nakamura 3 points each. 

It is a classical three point for the victor in Norway chess while a draw shares one point to each with the half-point played in armageddon. India’s Arjun Erigaisi stands at No.3 with 1.5 points after round one, while Wei Yei stands at 4 with 1. 
Chess.com reported the statement “It felt a little bit risky for me as well, since his pawns were quite fast, but I couldn’t keep myself from keeping the game going there, and then towards the end, I just wanted to make sure when he was queening the pawn, I was calculating everything”, said Carlsen who is as ambitious as Gukesh but used the running time to compose himself and revitalise his strategy.