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Chess is somewhere in the top ten for oddball sports that we’d happily watch at the Olympic Games. It sits somewhere between darts and hobby horsing—it’s certainly better than watching breaking—and it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves after highlights from round six of the double round-robin in the Norway Chess tournament took the internet by storm overnight.
With tense scenes to rival those of the State of Origin decider, the Max Verstappen of chess, GM Magnus Carlsen, was matched up against a young 19-year-old Indian GM and world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju.
Time was running low, but Carlsen was close to beating Gukesh. With victory in his sights for the second time in the same tournament, it all came crashing down. He made an uncharacteristic blunder. Gukesh could hardly believe the move, but his Kobe-like Mamba mentality smelled blood (and victory), and he pounced. Quite frankly, we have no idea what happened, but it must’ve been bad as Carlsen proceeded to put the table in ICU by slamming his hands down so hard that it launched pieces everywhere.
Sports are made from great rivalries, but we never thought chess would be delivering Bird vs. Magic levels of entertainment.
Like all great rivalries, there are elements of poise, performance, and luck involved. This victory also delivered karma. Earlier in the week, Carlsen tweeted: “If you come for the king, you best not miss,” shortly after a victory against Gukesh in an earlier round.
Gukesh was both humble and measured in victory. “Right now, what means the most to me is that I didn’t lose the game,” he said.
“But yes, beating Magnus in any form is special.”
This was Gukesh’s first-ever classical win over the Norwegian grandmaster. Currently, Gurkesh trails one point behind GM Fabiano Caruana after securing his first-ever classical victory against GM Arjun Erigaisi in round seven of the tournament. Round eight starts Tuesday, June 3, at 11 a.m. ET / 17:00 CEST / 8:30 p.m. IST.
