D Gukesh fights back from 'nearly lost' position to beat Arjun Erigaisi, overtakes Carlsen in Norway Chess standings

Chess world champion D Gukesh is on a spree of comeback wins as he stunned compatriot Arjun Erigaisi for the first time in classical chess on Monday, as the 19-year-old scripted another turnaround from a worse-to-lost position at Norway Chess 2025. Gukesh had done something similar on Sunday to secure his first-ever classical chess victory over world No.1 Magnus Carlsen.

On Monday, Gukesh had another challenging match, despite playing with the white pieces. Erigaisi, known for his aggressive gameplay, displayed his strong wits on the board in a crucial middlegame, pushing Gukesh to the brink.

Gukesh returns from 'nearly lost' position to beat Arjun

Even the commentators labelled Gukesh's position as "nearly lost," however, the 19-year-old has shown it time and time again that it's not over till it's over. Just as he did against 34-year-old Norwegian, Carlsen, Gukesh kept looking for a counterplay and when nothing was possible, he took the game into a time scramble by finding the necessary defensive moves.

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Soon, he took control of the match and after 92 moves, Erigaisi had no option left but to resign as Gukesh defeated him for the first time in classical chess.

It has to be noted that Arjun had defeated Gukesh in their previous meeting in Norway Chess 2025 last week.

The Chennai chess star, Gukesh, has now surpassed Carlsen in the standings with 11.5 points. He is currently second in the table, behind American Fabiano Caruana, who is on 12.5 points after beating Chinese Grandmaster Wei Yi.

How Gukesh defeated Arjun:

Carlsen dropped to third place despite beating American Hikaru Nakamura with white in armageddon.

In the women's section, Ju Wenjun secured her first classical win of Norway Chess 2025, defeating Sara Khadem to take sole lead with three rounds remaining. In the battle of the previous co-leaders, Anna Muzychuk edged past Koneru Humpy in Armageddon. Lei Tingjie also notched her first classical victory after R Vaishali’s position collapsed in time trouble.