‘Magnus Carlsen respects D Gukesh’: Nihal Sarin defends controversial table slam, tears into ‘misinterpreted words'

Magnus Carlsen’s young rivalry with D Gukesh has suit a talking repoint lately, and the pair off feature faced each other plenty of times this year too. At the recent Norway Chess 2025, the duo met twice, with Carlsen winning once, and losing once. In the tournament opener, the world No. 1 defeated the Indian GM with ease. They met again in a later round, and Gukesh sealed a sensational win.

The reigning World Champion was in a losing position in the endgame, and then Carlsen made a huge blunder, which saw Gukesh make a comeback to get his first classical win against the Norwegian.

Carlsen’s response was straightforward, as he slammed the table in angle, with the pieces falling off. It took him some time to get back to his usual self, as he shook hands with Gukesh, and also on his way back, patted the 18-year-old’s back. Carlsen’s reaction left everyone, including fans and commentators, in a state of shock, with some criticising him.

Indian GM Nihal Sarin rushed to Carlsen’s defence. Speaking to Firstpost, he said, “It’s not that common and it’s not desirable for anyone. No one wants to actively do it. Having been in that kind of position, I totally understand the reaction. Magnus was completely outplaying Gukesh and was winning. When all hope seemed lost, Gukesh started resisting brilliantly, and Magnus, very atypical of him, went a bit astray and it got a bit out of hand, and he ended up losing the game.”

“Having been in a similar position, I completely understand the reaction. Later, I saw Magnus saying in an interview that ‘it’s like a tennis player smashing a racquet.’ So, I don’t think it’s anything personal,” he added.

After Gukesh’s World Championship victory, Carlsen criticised the quality of the match. Meanwhile, Carlsen also recently said that he is not convinced with the Indian’s skills in rapid and blitz formats, and called him a weaker opponent. Then he lost to Gukesh in the rapid format of SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz tournament.

“I feel like Magnus’ words are being misinterpreted, and he has said it himself as well. Magnus definitely respects Gukesh. He’s an amazing player. Gukesh’s results in classical have been significantly better than rapid and blitz. His style is a bit more like that, very precise. In classical, you have much more time to sit and calculate, and rapid-blitz is much more instinct-based. So, I guess Gukesh has trained much more in the calculation way; it’s more natural for him. And it’s normal”, he said.

“Obviously, he is improving in other formats too. He finished first in Rapid in Zagreb, I believe, ahead of a very strong field including Magnus.

“I feel Gukesh right now is a bit like how Fabiano Caruana used to be a few years ago. He used to be the one considered weaker in rapid and blitz. In classical, he was a beast. Around lockdown, there was a lot more rapid and blitz, and he just started to adapt, started to take maybe more interest in it, focused a bit more on it, and now he is among the best in those two. I feel Magnus’ words are being overdramatised a bit,” he added.

Nihal recently faced Carlsen in the quarter-finals of the chess tournament at the Esports World Cup, and got thrashed by the Norwegian in a one-sided affair.

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