Carlsen's losing streak in Hong Kong decoded by veteran GM and chess coach: 'Deteriorating ability to...'

It's been a summer to forget so far for Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian Grandmaster, among the greatest players in the history of chess if not the best ever, had failed to finish among the top three at Norway Chess earlier this month after four Classical defeats, including back-to-back losses at the hands of eventual champion R Praggnanandhaa.

And in the ongoing FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships in Hong Kong that got underway on Wednesday, Carlsen hit an all-time low by suffering four consecutive losses while representing WR Chess, including a stunning defeat against Arjun in just 30 moves after committing a blunder.

Carlsen had begun with a draw against Indian GM Raunak Sadhwani that was followed by victories over veteran Ukrainian GM Vasyl Ivanchuk and Xu Xiangyu and another stalemate, this time against Russian GM Vladislav Artemiev.

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The loss against Arjun, however, derailed Carlsen's run in the Rapid leg of the event, sparking a losing streak that would be difficult to explain for a player who has ruled the sport for more than a decade.

Inability to stand tension behind Carlsen's decline, claims Bosnian-Dutch GM

According to Bosnian-Dutch GM and coach Ivan Sokolov, who has mentored the likes of Alireza Firouzja and Jorden van Foreest, the reason behind Carlsen's sudden loss of form in recent weeks is his inability to cope with pressure.

"All 3 Carlsen's HK losses have 1 thing in common. Forcing direct play (turns out at his own expense) in a positions not demanding it all," the 58-year-old wrote in a post on X after Carlsen suffered his third consecutive defeat on Friday, against Candidates 2026 winner Javokhir Sindarov.

"Perhaps an (early) indication of deteriorating ability to stand the tension," he added.

What makes Carlsen's losing run even more shocking is the fact that he had not lost more than three games on the bounce ever since he became a GM at the age of 13 in 2004. In fact, the last time Carlsen had suffered such a fate was at the Gausdal Classics tournament in 2003.

The losing run has also resulted in Carlsen's live rapid rating dropping by 29 points from 2832 to 2803 – his lowest since FIDE began rating players in the format in 2012.