Magnus Carlsen posts after Zagreb win: ‘When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough'
Carlsen was trailing tournament leader Gukesh by four points after the three-day-long rapid section, but ended up winning by a 2.5-point lead over the rest of the field after the 18 games of blitz over the weekend.
'When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough. Always striving for more though!,' Carlsen posted after the win.
When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough. Always striving for more though! https://t.co/PAofdSP9H3
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) July 6, 2025
Playing what Carlsen himself described as 'survival' chess using an 'old man's chess' approach, he did considerably well to outscore a formidable field for his 10th Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz title out of 12 appearances.
'I felt that I struggled most of the event. Partly because it was a very strong field this year. There weren't a lot of weaker players at all. It wasn't obvious who was going to score poorly and who was going to score well against the others. It felt like, especially in rapid, chances were kind of hard to come by. I had one good day yesterday (the first day of blitz section on Saturday) and that turned out to be enough,' Carlsen said on Sunday after the win.
'It speaks to the fact that it was a fairly even tournament overall. Nobody could really break away from the pack. It doesn't feel like I won. It feels like I just came here and played alright. Nobody really did anything special in the end. Then I usually end up winning,' he added.
Despite Carlsen saying multiple times during the event that he was struggling with his 'flow', he lost just one rapid game (the infamous loss to Gukesh) and one blitz game (to Nodirbek Abdusattorov) in the 27 games.
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