Carlsen In Crisis: 'There's Just A Mess In My Head'

When GM Magnus Carlsen sneezes, chess the world catches a cold.

And so it's proving at Norway Chess this week as the five-time world champion's troubles continued with another catastrophic loss, this time to GM Wesley So.

Carlsen, who slumped with is head in hands afterwards, has now lost an astonishing (for him) three of his last five classical games. The seven-time winner is also last on the leaderboard in an Oslo event he fully expects to win. Here in his hometown, he has lost 15 FIDE rating points.

When was the last time that happened?

The chess fraternity is now fearing whether this will be the last time it sees its biggest star playing in a classical chess tournament. It is, after all a format Carlsen has made clear he has little enthusiasm to play.

It was IM Levi Rozman, aka GothamChess, who said the unthinkable in his recap.

"Magnus Carlsen is straight up in last place, which is wild. And he has lost three games in classical, which nobody else has done. I really hope this is not the last time we see Magnus Carlsen play classical chess. I really hope not."

Carlsen, the world's undisputed number-one player who has won over 20 world titles across formats, himself seemed at a loss to explain it.

The 35-year-old told Norwegian network TV 2: "It's just not working. He's doing a lot of good things and creating problems for me, but what I'm doing isn't good enough. There's just a mess in my head.

"I completely missed his queen exchange. It's hard for me to make decisions, and the decisions I do make aren't very good. A lot of what I'm doing is just stupid.

"I have a general idea, but I don't remember any details. I'm playing too complicated for the state I'm in now. But I need to win games."

Carlsen started going wrong as the game developed into a long strategic struggle—usually his forte.

American star So gradually gained the upper hand in the endgame before turning the screw. Despite Carlsen's tenacious efforts to defend, So control and converted confidently to score a valuable classical win.

It was another unexpected result in an event that is proving very difficult to predict. Norwegians are not used to seeing their chess superstar losing at home.

Elsewhere, India's reigning World Champion GM Gukesh D overcame his countryman and friend GM Praggnanandhaa R in a tense encounter.

Praggnanandhaa held the initiative for much of the game before Gukesh seized his opportunity in the later stages.

Under increasing pressure and time trouble, Praggnanandhaa was unable to hold the position, allowing the World Champion to convert his advantage
and secure the victory.

The remaining classical game between tournament leader GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Vincent Keymer ended in a draw.

Firouzja later prevailed in the Armageddon game to collect the full three points on offer and strengthen his position at the top of the standings.