Norway Chess: Magnus Carlsen says loss to Gukesh ended his dream of playing really good tournament

Carlsen was asked if he could consider winning the Norway Chess title as redemption for losing that game against Gukesh.

“I know that I can play. I mean there is no there is no doubt about that. I just wanted a score that reflects the fact that I think I’m still significantly better at chess and since I couldn’t achieve that then potentially winning the tournament would not would not mean as much,” he said.

Earlier, he had said that his “tournament was a little bit over after the Gukesh defeat”. “It was nice to win (against Caruana). But it was not very inspiring,” Carlsen said. He also Take Take Take that he was “more tired mentally than physically”.

Gukesh, meanwhile, was also asked about being a race with Carlsen for the Norway Chess title.

“It’s great to go against Magnus. I’m happy with the game that I played today. Tomorrow, hopefully I will play a good game. The result, we’ll see later,” said the 19-year-old world champion.

How Gukesh beat Wei Yi

How Magnus Carlsen beat Caruana

Right on the heels of Carlsen (15 points) and Gukesh (14.5 points) is Hikaru Nakamura (13 points), who drew against Arjun Erigaisi and then defeated him in the Armageddon battle. Carlsen takes on Arjun in the final game while Gukesh will face Caruana.

Talking about the final game against Arjun, Carlsen said: “Arjun will always want to fight. So I am prepared for a fight for sure.”

Asked how he was going to prepare for game against Arjun, the world no 1 said: “It’s hard to say. Playing Arjun is a little bit like playing (Vasyl) Ivanchuk back in the day. It’s just somebody who doesn’t really play for for a lot of draws. He is just is out to get you. So playing black, I’m sure will we’ll get some sort of complicated game and I’ll try and do my best from there.”

A frustrated Carlsen had smashed his balled fist on the table — a moment that had gone viral — after his error against Gukesh led to him lose for the first time in classical chess against the reigning world champion. Carlsen had banged his fist on the board and let out an exasperated sigh of: “Oh my God.”

Later on that day, while talking to the media, Carlsen had said: “I don’t think that (the game against Gukesh, not the incident) was fun. I have to consider how to avoid it… maybe I should totally stop playing classical chess. It was not fun for me at all. In general I feel I have played well in the tournament but I don’t feel it is fun playing. I am not worried about my level.”