Viswanathan Anand has said that Magnus Carlsen’s anger at losing to Gukesh in Norway Chess — where the world no 1 famously smashed his fist on the table — was understandable and has compared it to a runner “falling and injuring themselves two metres before the finish line.”
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The incident had made global headlines and became on the most memed and parodied incidents from the sport over the last few months. Carlsen was livid because he had lost a winning position in a couple of moves to the 19-year-old from India who currently occupies the world champion’s throne, which was so willingly vacated by Carlsen two years ago.
Anand said that the viral moment had actually broken stereotypes of chess players not showing emotion during games.
“I would not call this totally undeserved (win for Gukesh). Magnus is famous for converting things perfectly. So he of all people should know (how to win this). But of course Gukesh was lucky that he could even survive this far. Magnus was basically 99% of the way. It’s like falling and injuring yourself 2 metres before the finish line. That’s what happened to him. He was so angry that he hit the table. Quite understandable and even in a sporting sense he just produced a moment where everyone could see what what chess players are going through. People have this fixed image of chess players being very serious and suddenly they see emotions and enjoy it. So also it helps us break some stereotypes,” Anand said in an interview with Chess.com.
When Anand was asked if he had ever reacted like Carlsen had after a loss, he even joked: “There was no point doing it. There weren’t 20 cameras pointed at you. So what’s the point? The only reason to do this is to get on social media now.”
Talking about the incident, Anand said: “Even many non-Indians have seen this. So clearly they enjoy seeing chess players do that. I enjoyed it as well because you know it’s drama. From Magnus’s perspective also I understand it very well. He was winning the game. He wanted to beat Gukesh in a sporting sense. He wanted to really show and he had the opportunity in the palm of his hands. He was going to beat him twice at Norway Chess in two games and make a point.
“At some point in that game, Magnus started to outplay him. So you can see Magnus’ pieces all coming for the kill.
The only thing is around about here when Magnus starts this king march. It is slightly risky. It is not a bad method but the possibility of mistakes happen. And once again a miracle happens. But this is a common miracle. I have done it myself. You get irritated at your opponent’s resistance that he’s not resigning. And then you get angry and try to finish the game with some calculation. Somewhere here something has gone wrong. Of course these mistakes happen. And suddenly Magnus has lost.”
