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Magnus Carlsen loses by forfeit after another accident with pieces at World Blitz Championship

As soon as Carlsen hit his clock, Martirosyan protested and stopped the clock to call over the arbiter Chris Bird.

4 min readUpdated: Dec 30, 2025 06:10 PM IST

Armenian grandmaster Haik M Martirosyan protests as Magnus Carlsen resets his pieces after knocking them over in their 14th round clash at the FIDE World Blitz Championship. (PHOTO: Screengrab via FIDE YouTube)

For the second day in a row, Magnus Carlsen had an accident on the board that cost him the game. A day after he lost to Arjun Erigaisi after fumbling his queen and then losing on time, Magnus Carlsen lost his 14th round clash to Armenian grandmaster Haik M Martirosyan at the FIDE World Blitz Championship by forfeit on Tuesday. This time around, Carlsen knocked over four pieces at the same time and then pressed the clock before putting the pieces back on their squares.

As soon as Carlsen hit his clock, Martirosyan protested and stopped the clock to call over the arbiter Chris Bird. After consulting with his colleague, Bird had a long conversation with Carlsen with Martirosyan hearing everything. Eventually, Carlsen accepted defeat.

The chief arbiter of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Nebosja Baralic later told FIDE why Carlsen was forfeited: “Carlsen dropped the pieces when he had two seconds on his clock and then pressed the clock without the pieces in the correct position. According to the regulations, the player must put pieces back in the correct position before stopping the clock.”

At that stage, Carlsen had two seconds on his clock while Martirosyan had 10. The action on the board was getting so intense that a plethora of grandmasters, including Fabiano Caruana, Arjun Erigaisi, Alexander Grischuk and Wesley So stood by watching the action when Carlsen knocked over the pieces. Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja were seen sharing a laugh as Carlsen was trying to put back pieces with both hands. Usually players are only allowed to use one hand to play the moves and press the clock with.

Martirosyan was heard apologising to Carlsen after the forfeit, to which the World No 1 reportedly said “It’s not your fault.”

Here’s how the drama unfolded

THE INCIDENT

With just two seconds left on the clock in his round 14 game of the World Blitz Championship, Magnus Carlsen accidentally knocked over four pieces on the board. (Photo: Screengrab via FIDE YouTube)

Before he had put all the pieces back in their place after knocking four pieces, Magnus Carlsen pressed the clock and started picking up pieces with both hands. (Photo: Screengrab via FIDE YouTube)

THE PROTEST

Armenian grandmaster Haik M Martirosyan stopped the clock and hailed the arbiter over protesting over Magnus Carlsen pressing the clock before resetting pieces in their correct squares. (Photo: Screengrab via FIDE YouTube)

Armenian grandmaster Haik M Martirosyan reacts after Magnus Carlsen pressed his clock after clattering over the pieces in their World Blitz Championship encounter. (Photo: Screengrab via FIDE YouTube)

THE CONVERSATION AND THE DECISION

Arbiter Chris Bird informs Magnus Carlsen about the forfeit for pressing the clock before resetting pieces in the correct squares. (Photo: Screengrab via FIDE YouTube)

WATCH: Magnus Carlsen drops pieces and gets forfeited

Chaos again as Magnus knocks over multiple pieces! https://t.co/ViJ1nWZ3Tf pic.twitter.com/P9j2RdiW5R

— chess24 (@chess24com) December 30, 2025

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Carlsen was in a must-win situation, with nine points after Monday’s 13 games which left him a full point behind the troika of leaders Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana.

After losing to Arjun on Monday, Carlsen had slammed a balled fist on the board in a scene reminiscent of his incident at Norway Chess, where he had made global headlines after losing in a classical game to reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju.

Carlsen has had other incidents at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Doha, including pushing away a cameraman after a defeat in the World Rapid Championship.