OSLO: The last few hours of D Gukesh's teens were spent in various ways. First, they were spent trying to force an opening against Magnus Carlsen with the white pieces at Norway Chess. He had a solid opening but he had to find precise moves to convert it. Once he failed to convert a miniscule advantage into a winning one, he had to back off.
But Gukesh didn't back off. He never backs off on the chess board as he loves the scent of a fight. But you come at the king, you best not miss. When the Indian world champion missed, Carlsen ever so slightly improved his position before driving a truck through the hole the 20-year-old had left of his own volition. In the ensuing endgame, the Norwegian had the time as well as the synchronised pieces to pick up his first Classical win of the tournament just before the first rest day.
But there was going to be no table bang on the occasion of the infamous scene from the 2025 edition. If anything, as soon as Gukesh resigned in a hopelessly lost position, something else transpired. Both players were happy to debrief the game for a few minutes while remaining seated. While it's common for the men to do this, Gukesh and Carlsen's post-game interactions have generally been fleeting at best. On Thursday night, they genuinely were going through some of the lines.
While a happy and smiling Carlsen was happy to oblige the TV media as well as post for photos, the Indian left the playing hall like a racewalker at the Olympics. Even as the media was listening to Carlsen, Gukesh took the route where the media presence was minimal.
Even as he was leaving the building, the World No. 1 succinctly summed up the game. "He sometimes plays too ambitiously and I think he did that (today)," he said. "He kind of wanted to prove serious advantage and I'm not sure there was. And, eventually, he played himself into some trouble. I took over more and more. Right at the end, I was a little bit worried because I'm allowing him to take a knight with check and I'm thinking this happened against Pragg (R Praggnanandhaa) yesterday (Wednesday), this happened against Gukesh last year... am I actually missing something? (But) if I was, he didn't find it."
While questions will continue to be asked about Gukesh's form — it's still early days in Oslo but it doesn't help that he's bottom with zero wins in the Classical section after four rounds — this game had everything. It showed that while Gukesh is far from his best at the moment, he will still opt for being combative at all times irrespective of the person sitting opposite to him. To be fair to him, he managed to surprise the 35-year-old out of the opening. At one point of time, it reduced Carlsen to sort of interviewing himself in the confession booth. "Questions you may ask," he said while seated inside the small soundproof room. "Did I miss 9.Nb5? Yes. Was it an unpleasant surprise? Yes, at least initially. Do I think my position is playable? Yes, I also think it's playable. That's all!"
The Nb5 idea was around the time the Indian had managed to find a small but working advantage. On the comms, David Howell liked how the white had positioned itself from a long-term perspective. And Carlsen, aiming to win Norway Chess for an eighth time since its inception in 2013, knew he had to eke out some fighting changes as well. So, he opted for some imbalance as he doubled his pawns.
Both of them were up for the scrap so there would be no playing safe. But while Carlsen slowly started making some inroads, the Indian, yet to win a Classical game in this event, kept prodding and pushing before extending himself in the middlegame. And that's generally been the big difference between the Gukesh of two years ago and now. He would have pushed back but now he's seemingly desperate for a gun-fight. That has kind of given way to way some odd mistakes or outright one-move blunders.
The first sort of pivotal game-changing move from Gukesh's side of the board came in the 16th move (Qxc4) when taking the pawn with knight or the bishop were the engine-recommended moves. As soon as Gukesh used his queen, Carlsen harassed his opponent's queen for the next few moves, an initiative which allowed the five-time world champion to develop his pieces with tempo.
In an already lost endgame, Gukesh went for a queen sacrifice to keep the fight alive but by then his opponent was already home and hosed.
On Friday morning, just as the players were about to get on a boat to enjoy "Norway Chess Games", an initiative to allow the players to bond with one another on one of the two rest days, the organisers dropped a video. It was a collection of players wishing Gukesh happy birthday. It started with Carlsen. "Very happy birthday to Gukesh," he said with a warm smile. "You are not a teenager anymore. Time to grow up."
Ouch.
Standings (after four rounds): Open Alireza Firouzja 8.5, R Praggnanandhaa 6, Wesley so 5.5, Magnus Carlsen 4.5, Vincent Keymer 4, D Gukesh 3.5; Women Bibisara Assaubayeva 7, Anna Muzychuk, Zhu Jiner and Divya Deshmukh 5.5, Ju Wenjun 4, Koneru Humpy 3.
