Ever since Gukesh Dommaraju defeated Ding Liren to become the youngest world champion in chess history, the world has been obsessed with what-ifs. What if Magnus Carlsen had not abdicated the throne? What if it has been Carlsen playing against Gukesh instead of Ding? Carlsen’s disinterest in playing classical tournaments has meant that the world no.1 and the world champion have not come face to face in the longest format of the sport since Gukesh’s coronation in December. The last time they duelled in a classical chess game was the 2023 FIDE World Cup when Carlsen defeated the teenager from Chennai in the two-game quarter-finals. But on Monday, the chess world will get the clash it has wanted for a while as Gukesh plays with black pieces against Carlsen at the Norway Chess tournament, one of the rare events for which Carlsen makes an exception to his self-imposed classical chess exile. The date for the second clash — where Gukesh plays with white pieces — will be made public soon. This year’s Norway Chess has one of the strongest fields in recent history with the world’s top 5 ranked players — Carlsen, No.2 Hikaru Nakamura, No.3 Gukesh, No.4 Arjun Erigiaisi and No.5 Fabiano Caruana — being joined by China’s World No.8 Wei Yi. It’s almost a mini-Candidates tournament where two flag-bearers of the current Indian golden generation - Gukesh and Arjun - take on the troika of grizzled veterans - Carlsen, Caruana and Nakamura. The women’s event will have reigning world champion Ju Wenjun being joined by a stacked field that includes India’s Koneru Humpy, Vaishali Rameshbabu besides players like Sara Khadem, Lei Tingjie and Anna Muzychuk. Carlsen admitted that he had no idea what to expect from himself. “Whether it's against Gukesh or somebody else here, I'm not really quite sure what to expect from those games in particular,” Carlsen said at the press conference on Sunday. “I certainly want to do well in those games and he (Gukesh) does as well.” In the past, Carlsen has spoken a lot about the 18-year-old Indian. He was particularly scathing in his comments about at times during the world championship. “If people think I was criticising Gukesh too much (during the world championship), it’s because I expect so much from him in classical chess” Carlsen said in a recent interview with Take Take Take. “It will be a very interesting game and a fun challenge,” Gukesh said about the clash. “I hope it will be a treat.” Slow starter Carlsen said that since he does play a lot of other formats of chess like freestyle and online, he is unlikely to be rusty. But he does expect a slow start at the tournament. “It's going to take a little time for me to get into the speed of the game. I don't expect necessarily to be at my sharpest in the first couple of games. I feel like I'm never that unless I've had very recent playing experience. I hope in a week from now, I'll be in great shape,” he said. Gukesh, on the other hand, has spent the past five months since becoming world champion under intense scrutiny for his form. He almost won the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee, before being thwarted by Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa. Since then, Gukesh has experienced an uncharacteristic slump: he went through the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess tournament without a win, before experiencing more woe in the Paris leg of the Freestyle event. And then, his results in freestyle started to poison his form in classical chess as well: at the recent Superbet Classic Romania event, Gukesh won just a single game out of nine. But Gukesh said he was not too perturbed by the scrutiny or his run of results. He said he was unable to train with full gusto in the first couple of weeks after becoming world champion. But in recent months, he’s back to the grind. “Last year (2024) in classical chess, I played tournaments where I kind of proved whatever needed to be proved. And right now, the focus is not about proving it,” Gukesh told Norway Chess in an interview on Saturday. “The world championship is not where I want to stop. I want to go beyond that. So it's not about proving, but improving myself and going beyond where I am.” (The writer is in Stavanger at the invitation of Norway Chess)
