India's teen chess phenom Gukesh Dommaraju stuns Magnus Carlsen in dramatic turnaround
World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju secured his first classical victory over world number one Magnus Carlsen during round six of the Norway Chess 2025 tournament.
The 19-year-old Indian grandmaster capitalised on a late-game error by Carlsen to reverse the course of the match, which had initially favoured the Norwegian player.
The tense encounter ended with a visible display of frustration from Carlsen, who struck the table, knocking over several pieces. According to Chess.com, Carlsen had been on track to secure a second victory against Gukesh in the tournament, potentially increasing his lead by another three points.
Gukesh, who earned his grandmaster title at the age of 12 and is currently the third-youngest grandmaster in history, reflected on the dramatic turnaround. "There wasn't much I could do. It was just clearly lost... luckily he got into a time scramble,” he said after the match.
The two had previously faced off in the opening round of the 10-round tournament in Stavanger, where Carlsen emerged victorious. However, Gukesh managed to secure a win in round six of the tournament after more than four hours of play.
With the win, he earned three points, bringing his total to 8.5 and moving him into third place behind Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana.
Gukesh made headlines in December 2024 when he became the youngest world chess champion at 18, defeating China’s Ding Liren in the final of the World Chess Championship held in Singapore. His victory broke the previous record held by Garry Kasparov, who won the title at 22 in 1985.
Following his championship win, Gukesh described it as the fulfilment of a decade-long dream inspired by watching Carlsen win the world title in 2013.
