The world reacts to chess champ’s outburst, but there’s more to the story
Drama and high emotion are not terms usually associated with the world of chess, but video circulating of a match between two of the world’s best players has social media abuzz.
Magnus Carlsen, acknowledged as one of the best chess players the world has seen, slammed his fist on the table in frustration after suffering a shock loss to Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju at the 2025 Norway Chess tournament on Monday.
Nineteen-year-old Gukesh pounced on a rare mistake from Carlsen to seal a 3-0 victory in the Norwegian town of Stavanger and secure his first classical victory over the five-time world champion.
When forced to concede, Carlsen, the 34-year-old Norwegian grandmaster, slammed his hand on the table in a surprise burst of emotion before shaking Gukesh’s hand and leaving the venue quickly. He also skipped media duties.
The outburst from the normally composed Carlson brought a stunned reaction from tournament commentators and accusations online that he was a sore loser.
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But while the world was focused on Carlson, it was the reaction of Gukesh that gave the best indication of the importance of the win.
The Indian teenager appeared stunned, putting his hands over his face as Carlson stormed off. Rather than a reaction to Carlson’s behaviour, chess watchers say he was feeling the enormity of his achievement.
While Gukesh was the defending champion, it was his first classical chess win against Carlsen, who had not played in previous championships in his home country.
“For people who may not know, Gukesh’s reaction here is not because of the outburst,” one poster on a Reddit chess forum said.
“Gukesh is the reigning world champion, but Magnus hasn’t participated in the last few world championships as a form of protest due to him disagreeing with the way the participants are selected.”
Another poster added: “Everyone is focusing on Magnus’s reaction. How about the rawness of Gukesh.”
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“Years of training for this, and still you don’t know if it’s possible,” they said.
“He was trying hard to make sure the moment doesn’t take him over and tries to stay composed. What a juxtaposition.”
Carlsen has held the top slot in Fide’s chess world rankings for almost 15 years and is considered perhaps the greatest player of any era.
In contrast to Carlson’s reaction, Gukesh modestly said his win was “lucky”.
“99 out of 100 times, I would lose. Just a lucky day!” Gukesh said after the match.
“First classical win against Magnus. I mean, not the way I wanted it to be, but OK, I’ll take it.”
Carlson, meanwhile, admitted he was confused by Gukesh’s tactics.
“I don’t completely understand what [Gukesh’s] concept is here. It seems to me that I just have excellent play,” Carlsen said.
