A year after infamous fist-smash, Gukesh vs Magnus Carlsen battles brewing… in a library

A playing board for this year’s Norway Chess tournament with the library shelves in the background at the Deichman Bjørvika, a public library at Oslo. (Express photo by Amit Kamath)

Norway Chess is one of the rare occasions when Carlsen plays the longest format of the game. With the 35-year-old now gravitating towards faster time controls such as rapid and blitz, besides newer variants like Freestyle Chess and the upcoming Total Chess World Championship, there is intrigue over when one of the greatest players in the world decides to stop playing classical chess altogether.

Norway has been in such a thrall of Carlsen’s exploits that a couple of years ago, there were reports that around 20 percent of the country’s five million population tuned in to watch him play at the year-ending World Rapid and Blitz Championship.

Besides Carlsen and Gukesh, this year’s tournament will feature R Praggnanandhaa, Vincent Keymer (who’s in hot form having just won the Super Chess Classic Romania tournament two days ago), Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja.

But most of the focus at this year’s edition will be on the two Carlsen-Gukesh encounters, a battle between the reigning world champion and the World no.1, who could have still been on the throne had he not lost interest in the longest form of the sport.

Course-correction

In the 18 months since Gukesh became the youngest world champion in chess history, the conversation has been dominated by his lack of form. The 19-year-old has not won any tournament since his greatest moment on the chessboard in December 2024. Recognising that he was in need of urgent course correction, Gukesh reduced his tournament load earlier this year by skipping a few Grand Chess Tour events that he was originally scheduled to play.

“My performance in the last few events has been quite disappointing,” Gukesh wrote on social media while announcing his decision two months back. “In order to find my best form, my team and I have decided that I should compete with slightly less intensity over the next few months. Consequently, we feel it is in my best interest to skip long events away from home to allow for more dedicated training time.”

Carlsen has been among the former world champions who have been unsparing in their criticism of the incumbent.

Only last month, when asked to weigh in on the upcoming world championship between Gukesh and Javokhir Sindarov, Carlsen had quipped: “Gukesh has very obvious weaknesses when it comes to his understanding.”

This could provide Gukesh added motivation when he faces Carlsen in classical chess, that too at his home.

Last year’s victory over Carlsen — which had led to the infamous fist smash — too had come in similar circumstances. As the Indian prodigy’s long-time coach Grzegorz Gajewski had told The Indian Express right after the famous win: “As a world champion, Gukesh keeps facing these comments, ‘ok, you’re the world champion only because Magnus didn’t play.’ You try not to hear those comments. But then you lose to him, and then you lose to him again, and that’s not even a bit pleasant. Now that Gukesh has beaten him, I hope this is going to give him some credit. And a lot of confidence.”

With just about six months left before Gukesh defends his world championship title, a shot of confidence by beating Carlsen could do the Indian a world of good.

(The writer is in Norway at the invitation of Norway Chess)