D Gukesh reflects on Norway Chess campaign: 'Can't say happy, but there are some things...'

After a series of underwhelming performances following his runner-up finish at the Tata Steel Chess, reigning world champion D Gukesh returned to form at the Norway Chess, where he was among the contenders for the trophy until the final round.

Though he did not win the tournament, with world No 1 Magnus Carlsen successfully defending his title and being crowned champion for the seventh time, Gukesh highlighted the fact that he did not become world champion by accident, and that he deserved to be counted among the sport's elite.

Gukesh finished third in the tournament with a total of 14.5 points, behind Carlsen (16) and Fabiano Caruana (15.5). And the key takeaway from the tournament was his victories over Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Arjun Erigaisi - the world's top three players as per the latest FIDE ratings.

When asked to describe his Norway Chess 2025 campaign, the Chennai lad, who turned 19 during the tournament, described it as something of a mixed bag.

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"Can't say happy, but there are some things to be happy about, some things to be really unhappy about," Gukesh said in an interview with ChessBase India.

"One thing is starting so badly and finishing so well. In the final round, I had fair chances to win. Starting with two losses in a tournament like this, it's not great. Another thing to be happy about is, in general, when I am in good form, like everything just goes very smoothly, like in Candidates, Olympiad, when I am in my best form, things just happen naturally.

"But sometimes, in tournaments when I am not feeling at my best, it goes shakily. In this tournament, clearly I was not nowhere close to my best. You don't really control your form. It just comes and goes," he added.

The teenager had arrived in Stavanger, where the tournament took place, after an underwhelming run in the Weissenhaus and Paris legs of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour as well as in Superbet Chess Classic Romania, a Classical event in Bucharest where he finished ninth out of 10 competitors.

Things got worse for him after he began his campaign in Norway with back-to-back losses, against Carlsen and Arjun. Gukesh, however, bounced back with a victory over Hikaru in the third round followed by an Armageddon win against Caruana.

The highlight of his campaign, as well as of the tournament, itself, was his sixth-round victory over Carlsen, in which he forced the iconic player to resign in 62 despite facing a second consecutive defeat at one stage. It was the first time Gukesh defeated Carlsen in his career, and he became only the second Indian after R Praggnanandhaa to achieve the feat.

Despite being shaken by the defeat, which Carlsen later revealed made him feel "washed and useless", the Norwegian went on to win the tournament despite being held to a draw by Arjun in the final round and losing the subsequent Armageddon game.

Magnus finishes second or third even on his bad days

Gukesh, for one, felt that Carlsen tends to finish among the top three even on his bad days.

"One thing about Magnus is that even when he is in bad form, he finishes second or third maximum. So one thing that I can be happy about is, even though I was playing pretty badly, to be honest, I still had chances to win. I guess the thing to be unhappy about is simply that in some games, I was just misevaluating.

"For example, in many games, pretty much all the games, there were one or two big moments. But okay. That's a chess weakness. It's nice that we could notice it, because I can just work on that. Some things to be happy about, some things to be not happy about. Overall, I think it was a nice experience," he added.

Gukesh has opted for a break after the Norway Chess campaign, with his name not appearing in the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, where he is an automatic entry for all events being the world champion.