'D Gukesh showed he's on track… but he's not ahead of track': Magnus Carlsen roasts World Champ's Norway Chess campaign
Norway Chess 2025 came to a wrap on Friday, and the final day was filled with epic drama. Magnus Carlsen's game vs Arjun Erigaisi ended in a draw, and then he won the title as Fabiano Caruana defeated D Gukesh.
Trying to a stage a comeback, a massive blunder by Gukesh in a time scramble, saw him lose to Caruana in heartbreaking manner. The Indian GM needed a win. Meanwhile, Carlsen ended the tournament with 16 points and Caruana came second with 15.5. Meanwhile, Gukesh is third with 14.5 points.
Speaking to ANI after the tournament, Carlsen said, 'I feel great. It is a relief to win the tournament. In the end, it was such a rollercoaster, but it is good.'
Giving his verdict on Gukesh and Arjun, he remarked, 'They are all very good (Gukesh and Arjun), but they still need a little bit of time to prepare. We also have a tournament running simultaneously in Armenia, where Pragg (R Praggnanandhaa) and Aravindh Chithambaram showed very good chess... It is not a positive memory, but the game that will stick out is the game against Gukesh.'
Meanwhile, Carlsen also told Chess24 that Gukesh is not ahead of other top chess GMs. 'Gukesh showed in this tournament he's on track, he's doing fantastic, but he's not ahead of track,' he said.
Carlsen also had a message for the younger generation. He said, 'I felt I generally played the best chess, but stumbling over the finish line, winning by half a point after a lot of results go my way…'
'I feel in parts of the game I'm a lot better than the kids... I generally feel I can outplay the kids, which feels good!'
Despite not winning the title, Gukesh will have plenty of positives from the tournament, which also saw him get his maiden classical win vs Carlsen in Round 6.
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